A COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE AND ITS

INFLUENCE ON VIETNAMESE EFL

TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL IDENTITIES
A thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education

by
TRAN THI DAN HUYEN

September 14, 2022

Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
 ABSTRACT

This thesis investigates the community of practice (CoP) as a model for professional

development for EFL teachers in Vietnam as well as its influences on their professional

identities and practices. In the context of Vietnam, although EFL teachers, English language

teaching, and professional development (PD) for EFL teachers have been the focus of the

national education reforms, and funds and effort are put into PD activities aiming at improving

EFL teachers’ language proficiency and updating their teaching methodologies, there has been

little evidence of positive changes in teachers' teaching practices and students' learning

outcomes. Several collaborative models for teacher professional development which have

recently been introduced, despite being helpful, still raise some issues regarding voluntary

participation, distributed leadership, trust and collegiality, and the balance between top-down

(PD provided and required by an institution or regulatory body) and bottom-up (PD directed

and determined by individual and groups of teachers) approaches. The international literature

also reveals that effective collaborative communities for teachers are rare and while

collaborative models are common in primary and secondary schools, they are limited in higher

education. In this thesis, a community of practice (CoP), defined as a group of people “who

share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge

and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing basis” (Wenger et al., 2002, p. 4), was

introduced as a form of professional development in the context of university EFL teaching in

Vietnam.

This thesis draws on social constructionism and social constructivism as theoretical

frameworks for understanding teacher professional identity and the professional learning

process within the CoP. A qualitative case study as the research method and action research as

the research process were adopted to investigate the complex situations and meanings of the

CoP process and teacher professional identity. Eight EFL teachers (including me as the
participant) were recruited to participate in the CoP over six months. Multiple instruments

including pre-interviews, post- interviews, CoP recordings, reflective writing journals, and

artefacts were used to collect data, and discourse analysis was adopted to analyse and interpret

the data.

Evidence from the data highlights that multiple discourses relating to teaching

experience, English language proficiency, Confucian and constructivist teaching approaches,

and institutional factors influenced Vietnamese EFL teachers’ professional identities and

practices. Conflicting discourses led to tensions in the teachers’ professional identities and

negatively influenced their teaching practices. The structure of the CoP, which was

characterised by being voluntary, having clear ground rules, a shared repertoire, and no leaders’

involvement offered a safe place for the teachers to collaborate and mutually engage with each

other through a variety of activities. The thesis demonstrates that when teachers feel safe,

experience agency as well as distributed power in their own professional development, they are

able to share their teaching problems honestly. With appropriate scaffolding from More

Knowledgeable Others (MKOs), they are able to challenge taken-for-granted knowledge and

reconcile conflicts in discourses, thereby transforming their professional identities and

practices in a positive way. The CoP elements of mutual engagement, shared repertoire, and

joint enterprise were evident in this research, embedded within three key features - Connection,

Collaboration, and Reflection. These features made the CoP model used here different from

other collaborative models in Vietnam and eliminated some issues of such models, such as a

lack of trust, a lack of voluntary participation, and the balance between top-down and bottom-

up approaches.

The thesis makes significant contributions to knowledge about collaborative PD models

for EFL teachers and teacher professional identities in Vietnam. Recommendations are made,

ii
which aim to strengthen the basis for collaborative PD amongst Vietnamese teachers and

suggest a CoP model appropriate to the Vietnamese context and other similar contexts.

iii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

My sincere thanks and deep appreciation to all the people who helped me along my PhD

journey and without those help this project would not be completed.

I am indebted to the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) and

Victoria University of Wellington (VUW), New Zealand for awarding me a four-year

scholarship, and my university in Vietnam for granting me study leave and many other

favourable conditions for my PhD study.

I would like to thank my supervisors, Dr. Jae Major and Dr. Bernadette Knewstubb,

from the bottom of my heart for all of their help with this project, including their devoted time,

professional guidance, constructive feedback, and invaluable encouragement and facilitation. I

thank them for their great contribution to my growth as a researcher and a scholar. Their

continued support has lifted me up, especially when I have raised my two kids on my own in

New Zealand and have been impacted by the Covid 19 pandemic.

I must thank National Economics University and the Faculty of Foreign Language for

allowing me to contact potential participants and collect appropriate data for my project. I

would like to express my special appreciation to seven participating EFL teachers - also my

colleagues – for their time and commitment to the project.

I owe gratitude to my dear family for inspiring and accompanying me on this journey -

my husband Nguyen Hoang Anh, my son Nguyen Anh Huy, my new baby Nguyen Tran Tue

Lam, my fathers Tran Duc Thanh, Nguyen Ba Thanh, my mothers Nguyen Thi Xuyen, Nguyen

Thi Tan. I would not have completed this journey without their emotional and financial support.

Last but not least, I would like to thank my friends I met in New Zealand: Le Cao Tinh,

Phung Thanh Hoai, Tho Vo, Ha Do, Nguyet Dang as well as other friends and colleagues, for

helping to make my PhD more meaningful and boosting my energy.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...................................................................................................... iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................ v
LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. x
LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... x
ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................................. xi
DEFINITIONS OF TERMS IN THIS STUDY ...................................................................xii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................... 1
1.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1
1.2 Background to the study ...................................................................................................... 1
1.3 The Vietnamese context ....................................................................................................... 6
1.3.1 English Language Teaching in Vietnam ....................................................................... 6
1.3.2 Professional Development for EFL teachers in Vietnam .............................................. 8
1.3.3 Professional Development models for EFL teachers in Vietnam ............................... 12
1.3.4 Community of practice and EFL teachers’ professional identities in Vietnam .......... 13
1.4 Significance of the study .................................................................................................... 14
1.5 Research questions ............................................................................................................. 14
1.6 Overview of the thesis ....................................................................................................... 15
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................ 17
2.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 17
2.2 Social constructionism ....................................................................................................... 17
2.2.1 Identity and related terms ............................................................................................ 20
2.2.2 Discourse ..................................................................................................................... 21
2.2.3 Power and agency........................................................................................................ 23
2.2.4 Positioning and subject positions ................................................................................ 28
2.2.5 Putting it all together ................................................................................................... 30
2.2.6 Empirical studies on EFL teachers’ professional identity in Vietnam ........................ 34
2.3 Social constructivism – The learning theory by Vygotsky ................................................ 37
2.3.1 The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) ................................................................ 39
2.3.2 Scaffolding .................................................................................................................. 41
2.4 Professional Development for EFL teachers ..................................................................... 42
2.4.1 The importance of Professional Development for teachers ........................................ 42
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 2.4.2 Professional Development models .............................................................................. 43
2.5 Communities of practice (CoPs) ........................................................................................ 52
2.5.1 Three elements ............................................................................................................ 53
2.5.2 The application of the CoP as a PD model for teachers .............................................. 55
2.5.3 The CoP and teacher professional identity .................................................................. 57
2.6 Summary ............................................................................................................................ 58
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN ...................................... 59
3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 59
3.2 Qualitative research ........................................................................................................... 59
3.3 Case study .......................................................................................................................... 61
3.4 Defining the case................................................................................................................ 63
3.5 Research process design .................................................................................................... 64
3.6 Research site ...................................................................................................................... 69
3.7 Research participants ......................................................................................................... 70
3.8 Research design ................................................................................................................. 74
3.9 Data collection tools .......................................................................................................... 79
3.9.1 Semi-structured interviews .......................................................................................... 79
3.9.2 Guided reflective journals ........................................................................................... 83
3.9.3 Artefact collection ....................................................................................................... 85
3.9.4 Audio recordings of the CoP meetings ....................................................................... 86
3.10 Data Analysis ................................................................................................................... 86
3.11 Trustworthiness ................................................................................................................ 89
3.12 Ethical considerations ...................................................................................................... 93
3.13 The researcher’s position ................................................................................................. 96
3.14 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 98
CHAPTER 4: RENEGOTIATING TEACHER PROFESSIONAL IDENTITIES
THROUGH THE DISCOURSE OF EXPERIENCE ......................................................... 99
4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 99
4.2 Before the CoP ................................................................................................................. 100
4.2.1 Advantages ................................................................................................................ 100
4.2.2 Disadvantages............................................................................................................ 103
4.3 During the CoP ................................................................................................................ 110
4.3.1 Challenging the misconceptions of the novice teachers............................................ 110

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 4.3.2 Negative emotions ..................................................................................................... 116
4.4 After the CoP ................................................................................................................... 119
4.4.1 Becoming confident .................................................................................................. 119
4.4.2 Becoming reflective .................................................................................................. 121
4.4.3 Receiving a vitamin booster ...................................................................................... 123
4.5 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 124
CHAPTER 5: RENEGOTIATING TEACHER PROFESSIONAL IDENTITIES
THROUGH THE DISCOURSE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY .......... 126
5. 1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 126
5.2 Before the CoP ................................................................................................................. 127
5.2.1 English language proficiency discourse– the criterion for being a good teacher...... 127
5.2.2 The lack of confidence in English language proficiency .......................................... 127
5.2.3 Confidence in English language proficiency ............................................................ 132
5.2.4 Repositioning using other discourses ........................................................................ 136
5.3 During the CoP ................................................................................................................ 141
5.3.1 Vietnamese or English language in the CoP? ........................................................... 141
5.3.2 Speaking like native speakers? .................................................................................. 141
5.4 After the CoP ................................................................................................................... 145
5.5 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 146
CHAPTER 6: RECONCILING PROFESSIONAL IDENTITIES AND TEACHING
PRACTICES THROUGH CONFLICTING DISCOURSES .......................................... 148
6.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 148
6.2 Before the CoP ................................................................................................................. 151
6.2.1 Managing the conflicting discourses ......................................................................... 151
6.2.2 Struggling with three discourses ............................................................................... 160
6.3 During the CoP ................................................................................................................ 168
6.3.1 Managing relationships with students ....................................................................... 168
6.3.2 Reinterpretation of the constructivist teaching concepts........................................... 177
6.4 After the CoP - Reconciling the discourse conflicts ........................................................ 180
6.5 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 187
CHAPTER 7: CREATING AN EFFECTIVE COP IN VIETNAM ............................... 189
7.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 189
7.2 Structure ........................................................................................................................... 189

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 7.2.1 Teacher-based structure............................................................................................. 189
7.2.2 Preparing for the CoP meetings ................................................................................ 193
7.2.3 Reading materials ...................................................................................................... 195
7.2.3 Lunchtime meetings .................................................................................................. 197
7.2.4 Follow-up activities ................................................................................................... 199
7.3 Relationships .................................................................................................................... 201
7.3.1 Collaboration and collegiality ................................................................................... 201
7.3.2 Safe place .................................................................................................................. 206
7.4 Reciprocity ....................................................................................................................... 210
7. 5 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 212
CHAPTER 8: DISCUSSION .............................................................................................. 214
8.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 214
8.2 The CoP model for EFL teacher PD in Vietnam ............................................................. 215
8.2.1 Connection ................................................................................................................ 217
8.2.2 Collaboration ............................................................................................................. 225
8.2.3 Reflection .................................................................................................................. 233
8.3 The impact of the CoP on EFL teachers’ professional identities..................................... 238
8.3.1 Discourses, conflicts, and hybridity .......................................................................... 239
8.3.2 Power and agency...................................................................................................... 243
8.4 The impact of the CoP on EFL teachers’ professional practices ..................................... 247
8.5 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 251
CHAPTER 9: CONCLUSION............................................................................................ 252
9.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 252
9.2 Contributions of the study................................................................................................ 252
9.3 Limitations of the study ................................................................................................... 254
9.4 Recommendations for professional development ............................................................ 256
9.5 Recommendations for further research and conclusion ................................................... 260
9.6 Summary .......................................................................................................................... 261
REFERENCES..................................................................................................................... 263
APPENDICES ...................................................................................................................... 295
Appendix A. Information letter to the Principal .................................................................... 295
Appendix B. Information letter to the Dean .......................................................................... 298
Appendix C. Information letter to the participants ................................................................ 301

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Appendix D. Participants’ consent form ................................................................................ 305
Appendix E. Interview questions for EFL teachers ............................................................... 307
Appendix F. Guided reflective journal .................................................................................. 312
Appendix G. Ethics approval ................................................................................................. 315
Appendix H. Artefact collection ............................................................................................ 316
Appendix I. Hours per semester per participant at the time of data collection ...................... 330

ix
 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 3.1: The Action Research Spiral by Kemmis, McTaggart, and Nixon (2014) 65

Figure 3.2: Research Process Design Adapted from the AR Model by Kemmis,

McTaggart, and Nixon (2014) 66

Figure 8.1: The CoP Model for EFL Teacher PD in Vietnam 216

LIST OF TABLES

Table 3.1: Background of the Teacher Participants 73

Table 3.2: Timeline of the Events Before, During, and After the CoP Meetings 75

Table 3.3: The Schedule of CoP Meetings 77

Table 7.1: What the CoP Members Learned from Each Other 211

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 ABBREVIATIONS

AR Action Research

CEFR Common European Framework of Reference

CFGs Critical Friends Groups

CLT Communicative Language Teaching

CoP Community of practice

EFL English as a Foreign Language

EMI English as a medium of instructions

ESP English for Specific Purposes

GE General English

IELTS International English Language Testing System

LLCs Language Learning Communities

MOET Ministry of Education and Training

NESTs Native English-Speaking Teachers

NNESTs Non – Native English-Speaking Teachers

PD Professional development

PI Professional identity

PLCs Professional Learning Communities

PP Professional practice

TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

TOEFL Test of English as a Foreign Language

VUW Victoria University of Wellington

xi
 DEFINITIONS OF TERMS IN THIS STUDY

Top-down A top-down approach to teacher professional development is “provided by

an institution or regulatory body determining what the teachers need in
order to make improvements”. (Anderson, 2018, p. 3).

Bottom – up A bottom-up approach to teacher professional development is “an approach

that is directed and guided 100% by an individual teacher. The teacher
decides the approach he/she want to take to his/her own PD” (Anderson,
2018, p. 3)

CoP There are several ways of applying the idea of CoP. It can be used as a
theoretical framework and as a model for professional development. In this
thesis, I used the idea of CoP coined by Lave and Wenger (1991) and further
developed by Wenger (1998) as a PD model for EFL teachers in the
Vietnamese context. My CoP is defined as an informal group of EFL
teachers which is based on their internal motivation for professional
development. Teachers voluntarily participate together in discussion and
decision making and share and build knowledge with a group identity,
shared domain goals, and interactive repertoire. They also have common
ground or ground rules to make their group environment safe to share and
bond them together.

Confucian Relates to the Confucian teaching approach which views teachers as holders
teaching of the highest standards of knowledge and morality. This leads to
discourse approaches to teaching that are teacher-centred and -directed. Teachers
must perform as good role models in their actions, speech, and lifestyles,
otherwise, students cannot put their faith in them and follow their teachings
(T. L. Lu, 2017).

Constructivist Comes from Western education. Within this discourse, a teacher plays the
teaching roles as a facilitator, an instructor, or a guide; a teacher should promote
discourse students’ individuality, empower them, develop a learner-centred approach,
apply integrated teaching, inquiry-based learning, and learning through
play, small-class or -group learning, student-initiated and process-oriented
activities.

xii
 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

This chapter introduces the thesis and describes its significance. It first provides background

information and makes explicit my own interest in undertaking this study. The Vietnamese

context including the roles of English language teaching and professional development

(hereafter PD) for Vietnamese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers is also discussed.

This chapter continues with the significance of this study and the research questions before

concluding with an overview of the thesis.

1.2 Background to the study

Personal interest often informs research (Middleton, 2001) and this study is no exception. I

have been an EFL teacher at an economics university in Vietnam for more than 10 years,

teaching English to students whose majors are business and economics. English is a compulsory

subject, but in the perception of many students, it is just a supplementary subject as it is not

their major.

At my university, I teach different English courses including General English, Business

English, four separate English skills, English for Specific Purposes, English for Academic

Purposes, TOEIC, IELTS, TOEFL, and so on. For me, teaching English to non-English major

students is not an easy job, but complex and demanding. As an EFL teacher, I have always

wanted to do something to teach better, improve my teaching, or develop my profession. I

believe that professional development is significant for Vietnamese EFL teachers like me to

update our professional knowledge and skills, thereby developing teaching quality and

effectiveness as well as improving students’ learning outcomes. During my teaching career,

especially during the early stages, I was fortunate to attend professional development

programmes organised by my university and the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET).
I often sat silently, just listening to experts, and followed what they told me to do. During the

professional development programmes, I was motivated to change my teaching practice by

using materials straightaway or applying the knowledge I learned from the PD experts. I found

this application to be both intriguing and useful. However, I appeared to revert to my previous

teaching habits following the completion of PD sessions. Sometimes I did not really understand

a term or knowledge presented in such programmes, but due to no follow-up activities, I often

worked in isolation or left my teaching problems unresolved. I chose not to ask my colleagues

mainly because I was afraid of being judged as an inadequate teacher. Thus, although I gained

new ideas, the depth of this new knowledge remained superficial so that ultimately it did not

affect my teaching approaches in the longer term. Sometimes I was not willing to attend PD

because of my huge workload, financial pressure, and topics which seemed irrelevant to my

teaching. Yet in the end, I still participated because it was required by the university and/or

faculty leaders. In my view, such PD programmes are not effective for Vietnamese EFL

teachers like me. That is why I wanted to try something different, an alternative form of PD

that might bring me and my colleagues more benefits than traditional PD forms.

Professional development is important to teacher development and students’ outcomes,

which accordingly influences the quality of school and educational reform implementation

(e.g., Desimone, 2011; Kabilan & Veratharaju, 2013; H. N. Tran et al., 2020). For many years,

PD has been viewed as “in-service training” or “staff development” (Villegas-Reimers, 2003,

p. 12) in which teachers are required to attend one-time trainings such as seminars, workshops,

and conferences on a specific subject (T. Borg, 2012). However, there is evidence in the

literature (T. Borg, 2012; Hunzicker, 2011; Özbilgin et al., 2016; Villegas-Reimers, 2003) that

the “sit and get” kinds of training have not produced the desired results in terms of improving

teachers’ practices and enhancing student performance. As Hill (2009) puts it, “participation

2
does not mean results” (p.471). These forms of PD have primarily been criticised for not being

sufficient to provide constant guidance for teachers (Yüksel, 2021).

Several collaborative models or teacher learning communities have been introduced and

revealed benefits, including a community of practice (CoP). In non–higher education contexts,

positive results for teacher professional development when working in communities of practice

have already been identified. Several studies have shown that teacher professional development

in teams results in changes in teaching practice (e.g., Meirink et al., 2010; Vescio et al., 2008),

new knowledge about teaching (e.g., Kafyulilo et al., 2015) and teachers’ attitudes (e.g.,

Meirink et al., 2010). In higher education contexts, which differ from primary and secondary

school contexts, a systematic review conducted by Gast et al. (2017) showed that participation

in a team-based PD intervention resulted in collegiality, critical reflection, changes in teaching

approaches, pedagogical knowledge, and teacher identity.

Collaborative professional development models like communities of practice are

increasingly being used in a number of fields, however, “effective collaborative learning

communities for teachers in schools are still rare in the literature” (T. Borg, 2012, p. 315) and

there are not many studies on collaborative teacher communities in higher education (Gast et

al., 2017). According to Vangrieken et al. (2015), realising teacher collaboration is challenging

and various factors hinder effective collaboration, for example, a strong-rooted culture of

individualism, autonomy, and independence of teachers and rare critical reflection on and

discussion of teaching practice.

Moreover, not every form of professional development, even those with the greatest

evidence of positive impact, is relevant to all teachers (Avalos, 2011). Additionally, EFL

teacher PD in Vietnam is a politically, socially, culturally and historically shaped activity (Dau,

2020; H. Tran, 2016) that is “fraught with many contradictions” (Dau, 2020, p. x). Thus, there

3
is a constant need to study, experiment, discuss and reflect on the interacting links and

influences of the history and traditions of groups of teachers, the educational needs of their

student populations, the expectations of their education systems, teachers’ working conditions,

and the opportunities to learn that are open to them (Avalos, 2011).

Some scholars (e.g., Deni & Malakolunthu, 2013; Green et al., 2013) assert that

participating in collaborative PD interventions affects not only teachers’ teaching practice but

also their view about themselves as teachers (or teacher professional identity). There is a

predominant model when it comes to researching EFL teachers’ professional identity: it focuses

on non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) from EFL backgrounds constructing and

negotiating their multiple identities (national, cultural, and professional) during their

postgraduate studies or residency in Anglophone countries (Barkhuizen, 2016; Fan & de Jong,

2019; T. T. H. Le, 2012; T. T. H. Le & Phan, 2013; T. T. H. Nguyen, 2017; L. H. Phan, 2007,

2008; Samimy et al., 2011). In this model, EFL teachers learned new pedagogies and socialised

with the local people and other international students using English as a means of

communication. As a result of their experience in intercultural contexts and in their own

countries, they underwent profound transformations in their beliefs and practices. However, the

majority of EFL teachers worldwide and in Vietnam today are non-native English speakers

who have spent their lives pursuing careers in their own home country. This means that not all

teachers are provided with access to transnational spaces for their identity formation and

professional development.

In EFL settings, the native/non-native divide remains “central to everyday English

language teaching discourse and practice in many parts of the world” (Benson, 2012, p. 484).

Being native speaker-like is a deeply pervasive ideology representing “‘Western culture’ from

which spring the ideals both of the English language and of ELT methodology” (Holliday,

2005, p. 6). It has become a dominant discourse in professional identity construction where
4
EFL teachers “for too long … have been labelled and marginalised as non-native English-

speaking teachers” (McKay, 2012, p. 41). EFL teachers in such countries such as Korea, China,

Japan, and Chile have constructed their professional identities within the native speaker

discourse (Barahona, 2020; Choe, 2005; Huang, 2019; Lee, 2010). They see native speakers as

the owners of the English language and regard themselves as “second class” as far as language

proficiency is concerned. The heavy reliance in these contexts on native speakers as English

teachers has made NNS EFL teachers’ professional identities quite vulnerable and negative

despite being professionally trained and qualified (Barahona, 2020; Choe, 2005; Huang, 2019

; and Lee, 2010). Unlike its neighbours, where the majority of English language instruction is

conducted by native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) (Sakui, 2004), the majority of

Vietnam’s English language instruction is conducted by local teachers. Phan (2008) contended

that this is healthy and contributes significantly to how Vietnamese EFL teachers perceive their

professional identities, as they rarely come into direct contact with the native/non-native

dichotomy in their working environments.

Take my case as an example. During my teaching time in Vietnam, I only met one or

two NESTs in the international programme of my university. As we had different teaching

hours, we rarely talked to each other. However, attending PD programmes provided me some

knowledge and I struggled with the dichotomy between who I was and who I wanted to be as

an EFL teacher. Specifically, when I first learned about Communicative Language Teaching

(CLT) approach, an innovative language teaching approach formed in the late 1960s (Ju, 2013)

that emphasises language learners’ “communicative proficiency” rather than “a mere mastery

of grammar and structures” (Richards & Rogers, 2001, p. 161), I desired to apply it in my

classroom. However, I felt that I lacked confidence in my speaking abilities, especially in terms

of native-like pronunciation and accent. I encouraged students to speak up and participate fully

in classroom activities, but I became annoyed when they talked a lot and did not follow my
5
instructions. These were just a few of the difficulties I encountered when defining myself as an

EFL teacher. However, I had no one to ask because, as mentioned above, asking my colleagues

would make them think that I was not a good teacher.

My personal experiences and background led me to believe that there was an urgent

need to conduct research on an alternative PD model for tertiary EFL teachers and on the

professional identities of EFL teachers who have few opportunities to access transnational

spaces. The following section describes the Vietnamese context in which this study is based.

1.3 The Vietnamese context

1.3.1 English Language Teaching in Vietnam

Vietnam is located in Southeast Asia and is bounded on the west by Cambodia and Laos, on

the north by China, on the east and south by the South China Sea, and on the south-west by the

Gulf of Thailand. Since Vietnam implemented its Đổi mới reform policy opening up its

economy and its relationships with the West, the role of English has been dramatically

increasing (T. N. T. Bui & Nguyen, 2016; T. M. H. Nguyen, 2011). Baldauf and Richard

(2012) claim that “language proficiency is a core skill required to meet internationalization

requirement” (p.1696). Faced with regional and international economic competition and the

fear of being left behind in the process, the Vietnamese government has expressed a strong

political will and commitment to enhance the foreign language communicative competence of

young Vietnamese graduates (V. C. Le, 2015; T. M. H. Nguyen & Burns, 2017). English has

since become the preferred foreign language compared with Russian, Chinese, and French and

the most popular foreign language in the Vietnamese educational system (T. N. T. Bui &

Nguyen, 2016; C. D. Nguyen, 2017b; N. T. Nguyen, 2017). According to Dougil (2008),

English has also become “the language of success, profit, and international acceptability” (p.

18), and “the key to knowledge…the gateway to dreams and faraway places” (p. 19). English

is thus a compulsory subject at all levels. English is being introduced at an increasingly younger
6
age and is increasingly being used as the medium of instruction in higher education institutions

(Vietnamese Government, 2008).

As a result of an increasing role of English, there is a rapid increase in popularity of

English language teaching. However, this has raised concerns about the quality of English

teaching and learning. After more than a decade of efforts in terms of resources and changes,

the English proficiency of university graduates is still of major concern (T. M. H. Nguyen,

2017; T. T. Tran, 2013). As Tran (2013) reported, “when leaving universities, many graduates

could not communicate in English in some simple situations, they could not understand

general news in English either” (p. 143). According to Nguyen (2018), many have attributed

the problem of Vietnamese learners’ poor English language competence to various reasons, but

“the basic underlying issue seems to be the lack of qualified teachers” (p. 95). The findings of

the study by Trinh and Mai (2018) identified six common challenges faced by EFL teachers

working in both English-majoring institutions (which prepare students to become English

teachers or interpreters) and non-English-majoring institutions (which do not offer a degree in

English studies and their students do not have to take English entrance tests but other subjects,

depending on their majors). These challenges related to the culture of teaching and learning in

the Vietnamese EFL context, large-class sizes, a lack of teaching facilities, inappropriate

materials, students’ low motivation, and a testing-oriented system. This study also discovered

that cultural factors related to a Confucian education philosophy, time constraints, students’

low and unequal English proficiency, and their limited knowledge in the field of ESP teaching

affected EFL teachers’ work in non-English-majoring institutions. Nguyen et al. (2015)

identified factors hindering the efficacy of teaching and learning EFL in Vietnamese higher

education from the teachers’ perspectives. They included insufficient time for English subjects,

lack of speaking component in tests and examinations, unequal students’ English abilities, large

class sizes, limited support from university leaders, and students’ limited efforts and
7
motivation. Taken together, these empirical studies reveal problems in the quality of English

teaching and learning in Vietnam.

1.3.2 Professional Development for EFL teachers in Vietnam

To meet the ever-increasing demand for English and to enact the national educational reforms,

the Vietnamese government and Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) have proposed

numerous strategic plans and guidelines to promote English teaching and learning over the last

two decades. In 2008, the government approved the project “Teaching and learning foreign

languages in the national education system, period 2008-2020” (known as the Project 2020)

which has been regarded as the most ambitious endeavour in Vietnam’s educational history

with a budget of over 4 hundred million dollars (V. T. Nguyen, 2018). The aim of the project

is to provide Vietnamese students of all educational levels with ―a good command of foreign

languages so that by 2020 they can confidently compete in regional and global markets

(Vietnamese Government, 2008). Even though the document provides a framework for foreign

language education, the focus is on strategies to develop English proficiency for Vietnamese

people, particularly the students and teachers. To ensure the project’s successful enactment,

Project 2020 has focused on teachers’ English language proficiency which has become a critical

topic in Vietnam.

EFL teachers are required to have a minimum level of proficiency in the Common

European Framework of References for Languages (CEFR). Teachers at primary and lower

secondary schools are required to have a CEFR level of B2 or above, and upper secondary

school, college and university teachers are required to have C1 or higher (MOET, 2014). In

2011, MOET performed an assessment of EFL teachers’ English language proficiency at all

educational levels throughout the country. The assessment results indicated that the majority of

teachers had competence levels in the A2-B1 range, well below the target of B2 and C1 that

they needed to achieve. A report by Nguyen (2013) (as cited in T. M. H. Nguyen, 2017)

8
indicated that nearly half of HE teachers and over 80% of non-HE teachers did not achieve the

language proficiency requirement. Although Le (2015) raised concerns about the test format,

the test-taking strategies of tested teachers, and the quality of examiners, these results have

caused criticisms and prompted plans to standardise teachers’ language proficiency. Since

2012, thousands of teachers who did not meet the minimum proficiency requirements have

participated in intensive training sessions which focused on improving teachers’ overall

English language proficiency, with an emphasis on their use of English as a language of

instruction in class (V. T. Nguyen, 2018).

Some scholars have argued that this emphasis on teachers’ English language

proficiency is insufficient. Nguyen and Mai (2015), when investigating in-service EFL

Vietnamese teachers’ responses to the government language proficiency requirements imposed

on them, pointed out that there was a matrix of interrelated challenges underlying the teachers’

dilemma in the participant’s English proficiency development. Nguyen and Mai (2015)

suggested that rather focusing exclusively on teachers’ English language proficiency to “soothe

the surface cut without touching the deep root of the problem” (p. 1840), the MOET should

employ a holistic approach with better collaboration among different forces across levels to

make meaningful and long-term contribution to solving the matrix of challenges teachers are

facing to improve their language proficiency. The findings also showed the participants all

longed for a more appropriate support framework to improve their English language

proficiency while acknowledging they are competent to execute their teaching practices.

Nguyen et al. (2018) believe that in order to improve the quality of teaching, both language and

pedagogical training for teachers is essential, and this should be done on a needs-analysis basis.

They argued that it was critical for the ministry to provide a platform for teachers to raise their

concerns, and their needs and suggestions should be taken into consideration. According to

C.V. Le (2020b), a competency framework composed of five domains: (1) knowledge of

9
subject, (2) knowledge of teaching, (3) knowledge of learners, (4) attitudes and values, and (5)

practice and content of language teaching, was developed to provide guidance for the in-service

training syllabus design. Despite the scope of this framework, intensive in-service training has

in reality focused only on language improvement and updating teaching methods components.

Training responsibility was assigned to university lecturers who had limited knowledge of the

teachers’ professional needs, their learners, and their school contexts.

Nearly a decade after the launch, critics claim that the project has failed to meet many

of its initial targets for 2020, for various reasons. At the 2016 project review meeting, while the

MOET attributed the project’s failure to teachers’ low English proficiency and traditional

teaching methodologies, teachers agreed that the issue was students’ lack of motivation (V. C.

Le, 2020b). These teachers noted that students in some areas were reluctant to learn English

because they did not understand the purpose of learning English (ibid.). There seems to be a

mismatch between leaders’ perceptions and teachers’ perceptions regarding the quality of

teaching and learning, leading to the difference in needs for PD and PD content. This explains

why PD programmes organised by MOET or institution leaders exclusively focus on language

proficiency improvement and teaching methodological updates for teachers.

A study by Le (2017) on the impact of in-service training on classroom practices might

explain more about this mismatch from the view of teachers. This study revealed two important

myths on which Vietnamese teacher education programmes are based. The first myth concerned

the assumption that teachers’ subject matter knowledge and language proficiency were

sufficient for effective classroom instruction. According to Le (2017), although teachers

expressed enthusiasm for the new instructional strategies based on Communicative Language

Teaching (CLT), task-based language teaching, or game-based approaches to teaching young

learners that were transmitted to them, they admitted to failing to “appropriate those strategies

in their teaching practices. Students’ low motivation and limited English proficiency were cited

10
as the two primary causes for this by many interviewed teachers” (p. 75). The second myth

concerned the causal relationship between teaching methods and student learning outcomes.

This assumption obscured the important fact that successful teaching and learning required an

understanding of the diverse types of learners and their needs. Le (2017) stated that “unless

teachers have deep insights into what their learners know, how they learn, what their difficulties

are, how they feel about learning, and how they see things, teachers can hardly function

effectively as motivators, supporters, and scaffolders of learning no matter what teaching

methods they might know about” (p. 77). The findings of Le’s study show there were some

dominant discourses in English language teaching, specifically teachers’ language proficiency,

subject matter knowledge, and teaching methodology would be sufficient for effective

classroom instructions and influence students’ learning outcomes. However, in the teachers’

view, it was students that played an important role in teachers’ learning-related decisions and

solutions. It seems that what teachers need to help them teach effectively in classrooms is

largely related to the knowledge about their students, which is not recognised yet by the MOET

or institution leaders when they design and organise PD for teachers.

Ultimately, Project 2020 was unable to achieve its goals (Vietnamese Government,

2017). Through the Decision No.2080/QD-TTg issued in 2017, the MOET replaced Project

2020 with a new project entitled Teaching and Learning Foreign Languages in the national

education system, period 2017-2025. This project features revised Project 2020’s goals and

strategies with an expectation of fostering English competency and developing sufficient

numbers of high-quality EFL teaching staff. The MOET has placed a greater emphasis on

building teachers’ competencies in integrating information technology into their classrooms in

order to foster innovative teaching and learning (Vietnamese Government, 2017).

Collectively, EFL teachers play an important role in carrying out the changes in

language learning and language policy, and PD is a means to enable EFL teachers to further

11
develop their personal and professional practices that support student learning, institutions’

quality, and policy enactment. However, although much effort was made regarding organising

PD for teachers, this issue still becomes a heated debate.

1.3.3 Professional Development models for EFL teachers in Vietnam

The picture of PD models used for Vietnamese EFL teachers is not any better than of the

teaching and learning strategies prevalent in Vietnamese classrooms. The majority of PD

opportunities offered to Vietnamese EFL teachers have been heavily “top-down” (Dau, 2020;

V. C. Le, 2020a; V. T. Nguyen, 2018; Tuyet, 2015). A top-down approach to teacher PD is

“provided by an institution or regulatory body determining what the teachers need in order to

make improvements” (Anderson, 2018, p. 3). In other words, the institution is the primary

source of PD, and the focus is on meeting the needs of the institution and not necessarily the

needs of the teachers. As such, PD is controversial and contested and teachers are ambivalent

about it (T. N. T. Bui & Nguyen, 2016).

Some collaborative models such as a community of practice (CoP), Professional

Learning Communities (PLCs), Action Research (AR), Language Learning Communities

(LLCs), Critical Friends Groups (CFGs) have been recently introduced in Vietnam (Ha, 2013;

V. C. Le, 2018; Ngoc, 2018; Q. N. Phan, 2017; Vo & Nguyen, 2010). In general, these models

are helpful in terms of enhancing teacher learning, assisting them to “favourably respond to

their current challenges, as opposed to the top-down and unpractical PD initiatives imposed by

the government” (Dau, 2020, p. 40). However, the researchers of such models also note some

issues existed regarding a lack of voluntary participation, a lack of distributed leadership among

teacher participants, and a lack of trust and collegiality. Importantly, the majority of researchers

(Ha, 2013; V. C. Le, 2018; Ngoc, 2018; Q. N. Phan, 2017) highlight a combination of bottom-

up and top-down approaches as a must for these models to work in the Vietnamese context. A

bottom-up approach to teacher professional development is “an approach that is directed and

12
guided 100% by an individual teacher; the teacher decides the approach he/she want to take to

his/her own PD” (Anderson, 2018, p. 3). The collaborative approaches reported in these studies

featured top-down elements, which ultimately affected the way collaborative approaches were

applied. In other words, there was a change, modification, or reshaping of such models. For

example, the CoP model described in Ha’s (2013) work is not identical to the original model

due to the involvement of college and faculty leaders and the CoP facilitator. Phan (2017)

similarly stated that the principle that a PLC needs to develop on a natural and voluntary basis

did not work in the context she studied. Although the teachers wished to have a community to

learn from each other to teach English at primary schools, their PLCs were only developed until

they were officially established by institution leaders (specifically, Department of Education

and Training (DOET)).

1.3.4 Community of practice and EFL teachers’ professional identities in Vietnam

Several researchers have applied the notion of a community of practice (CoP) to the Vietnamese

setting, albeit in varying ways. CoP may refer to a theoretical framework (T. K. H. Bui, 2017),

a collection of communities (C. D. Nguyen, 2017b), or a model for teacher PD (Ha, 2013) (see

section 2.5.3 for further detail).

In terms of EFL teachers’ professional identity, most of the empirical studies fit a

similar trend to the world; that is, investigating non-native English-speaking teachers

(NNESTs) from EFL backgrounds who have constructed and negotiated their multiple

identities (national, cultural, and professional) during their postgraduate studies or residency in

English-speaking countries (T. T. H. Le, 2012; T. T. H. Le & Phan, 2013; T. T. H. Nguyen,

2017; X. N. C. M. Nguyen & Dao, 2019; L. H. Phan, 2007). These studies are discussed in

detail in the next chapter.

13
 What is missing is research focused on EFL teachers who have not studied abroad but

have developed their English competence and EFL teaching skills in their home countries. The

study reported in this thesis addresses this gap.

1.4 Significance of the study

The aim of this study is to deeply investigate how the CoP as a collaborative and bottom-up

model work for EFL teachers in the context of Vietnam. More specifically, through finding

discourses that shape Vietnamese EFL’s professional identities before they attend the CoP

project, the study explores the process in which the teachers learn to construct or reconstruct

their professional identities and practices in order to see if there is any shift in such aspects due

to their participation in the CoP. This study is expected to contribute to the research field by

providing in-depth insights into the implementation process of the CoP as well as the

(re)negotiation of Vietnamese EFL teachers’ professional identities and practices. The findings

enable the researcher to propose a model for effective PD in the context of Vietnam as well as

in similar context in the world.

1.5 Research questions

The purpose of this study was to examine the implementation process of the CoP as a PD model

and its influence on EFL teachers’ professional identities in the context of Vietnam. As a result,

the following questions guided the study:

How does participation in a community of practice influence the professional identities of

a group of Vietnamese EFL teachers?

- What factors make an effective community of practice for professional development for

Vietnamese EFL teachers?

- How does involvement/ participation in a community of practice change EFL teachers’

professional practice?

14
 What are the issues/problems of teaching practice that the teachers raise/identify in a

community of practice?

What are the solutions/suggestions that they come up with to address those

issues/problems?

- How does involvement in a community of practice influence individual EFL teachers’

professional identity?

1.6 Overview of the thesis

This thesis is organised into eight chapters. This chapter, Chapter 1, outlines the thesis and

explains why it is significant in the Vietnamese context and potentially applicable outside of

Vietnam. This chapter briefly describes the international empirical research related to PD and

PD models, and then the Vietnamese context with an overview on English language teaching,

PD for EFL teachers, current PD models, and the community of practice and teacher

professional identity. Next, the rationale for undertaking this study and the significance of the

study are explained. Finally, this section outlines the organisation of the thesis.

Chapter 2 reviews the relevant literature to positions this study within a broader

theoretical framework. The chapter covers three main elements in the study: the CoP, teacher

professional identity, and EFL practice. The first part explains the theoretical framework

underpinning this study: social constructionism (Burr, 2003, 2015). Social constructionism

provides a lens to understand how knowledge including knowledge about humans (teacher

professional identity) is constructed. The second part describes social constructivism as a

learning theory (Vygotsky, 1978) which enabled me to understand how EFL teaching and

learning function in Vietnam, as well as how a CoP is formed and how it influences professional

learning.

Chapter 3 provides an overview of the research methodology. It explains why a

qualitative case study frame and action research process was highly relevant to this study. This

15
chapter describes the research setting, participants, data collection tools (pre- and post-

interviews, CoP meeting recordings, reflective writing journals, artefacts), data collection

procedures, and data analysis in details. My role as an insider researcher and trustworthiness of

the findings are also addressed in this chapter.

Chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7 present and analyse the study’s findings. Chapter 4 analyses the

findings on the EFL teachers’ professional identity renegotiation within the discourse of

experience, Chapter 5 under the discourse of English language proficiency, and Chapter 6 under

the Confucian, constructivist, and institutional discourses. Chapter 7 presents the analysis on

the factors that contributed to the CoP’s success.

Chapter 8 provides in-depth discussion on the effective CoP model highlighted in the

findings of the CoP implementation process as well as the issues of teacher professional

identities and practices. These key issues do not neatly fit into the four findings chapters but

have emerged from the findings across these chapters. They are discussed in light of social

constructivism (Vygotsky, 1978), three elements of the CoP by Wenger (1998), and social

constructionism (Burr, 2003, 2015) which are developed in Chapter 2, as well as of my insider

researcher’s perceptions of the research context.

Chapter 9 concludes the research, highlighting the contributions of the study to the

literature, looking at limitation of the study, making recommendations for further developing

and applying the CoP models in similar contexts as well as fostering teachers’ professional

identity. Future research directions are finally mapped out in this chapter.

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 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction

This chapter first establishes the theoretical framework that frames this study and is used to

analyse the data. It then discusses the three central concerns of my thesis: teachers’ professional

identity, community of practice, and EFL teaching practice. In addition, the Vietnamese context

of the study is extremely important and will be explored.

Social constructionism acts as the overarching theoretical framework for this project.

In social constructionism, knowledge and truth are relative and shaped by contexts, culture,

interactions, and people, rather than being discovered by the human mind (Burr, 2003, 2015).

This theory provided me with the tools to conceive of professional identity as socially

constructed through language and situated in discourses. Those elements of the current study

concerned with the concepts of community of practice and EFL teaching practice drew heavily

on the related theory of social constructivism. This is a learning theory, and it was used to

explore how EFL teaching and learning function in Vietnam, as well as how a CoP is formed

and how it influences professional learning. These frameworks and theories were central for

the discussion of the main concepts and for the data analysis. The following sections will first

explore social constructionism within which professional identity and its related terms are

discussed and then social constructivism with the discussion of PD and CoP.

2.2 Social constructionism

Social constructionism stems from, and is influenced by, diverse disciplines such as

philosophy, sociology, and linguistics, making it multidisciplinary in nature (Burr, 2003, 2015).

This accordingly makes social constructionism difficult to define with a single description.

Instead, it is more useful to describe some of the broad features which characterise a social

17
constructionist approach. Burr (2003, 2015) proposed four key tenets of social constructionism

that most social constructionists agree with.

First, social constructionism insists on “a critical stance toward our taken-for-granted

ways of understanding the world and ourselves” (Burr, 2015, p. 2). It encourages us to be

critical of how we understand the world and ourselves. Thus, knowledge viewed through a

social constructionist lens is not neutral, objective, or unproblematic but is rather interested,

subjective, and frequently problematic. This critical stance towards knowledge is entwined with

an attitude of anti-essentialism or rejection of the essentialist. In general, social constructionism

suggests that shared categories, concepts, and understandings of the world are constructed

within cultural and social contexts.

This leads to the second of Burr’s key assumptions – that all knowledge is historically

and culturally specific. Social constructionism rejects the notion that knowledge is a direct

representation of reality and that there is such thing as an objective fact. Instead, within a culture

or society, people construct their own version of reality between them. Shared understandings

can be viewed as a product of a particular time and place, of that culture and history, rather than

a true representation of the world out there. In this way, the sense of relativism implied is a

related feature of social constructionism. Put differently, all ways of understanding are

historically and culturally relative.

Burr’s third key assumption highlights the centrality of social processes in knowledge

construction. Knowledge of the world or common ways of understanding it are not derived

from the nature of the world as it really is, but it is constructed through daily interactions

between people. Language is therefore fundamental in social constructionism. Language is

used to produce and reproduce knowledge as people enact various roles within various contexts.

Language enables people to make sense of the world; it allows them to share experiences and

meanings with one another (Burr, 2003, 2015). What we regard as truth, which varies

18
historically and cross-culturally, may be thought of as our current accepted ways of

understanding the world.

The fourth and final key assumption is that knowledge and social action are

interconnected. This means that the constructions or meanings we make about things lead to

practices or social actions that are patterned and become institutionalised in social structures.

It is evident that some constructions or meanings, and their related practices or actions, become

privileged and gain power within a cultural and social milieu (Burr, 2003, 2015). When these

are taken for granted, tacit or hidden, they become hegemonic and can be difficult to detect.

People’s constructions of the world are therefore connected to power relations because they

have implications for what different people are allowed to do and for how others may be treated.

Based on these tenets, anything that has meaning in our lives originates within “the

matrix of relationships in which we are engaged” (Gergen & Gergen, 2000 as cited in J. B.

Allen, 2005). In other words, meaning arises from social systems rather than from individual

members of society. Social constructionists contend that humans derive knowledge of the world

from larger social discourses, which can vary across time and place, and which often represent

and reinforce dominant belief systems (J. B. Allen, 2005). Social constructionism is, therefore

“an epistemology – a way of understanding how knowledge of the human world is produced”

(Hjelm, 2014, p. 4).

Social constructionism acts as an overarching theoretical framework for my project

helping understand and explain identity, namely EFL teachers’ professional identities in the

context of Vietnam. From my own experience, I believe that a critical stance toward common-

sense knowledge, interactions with people, and the context we live in are all vital in shaping

knowledge about ourselves and then leading to our changes in action. In other words, I can see

how EFL teachers take up or resist cultural and social pressure on them to change to teach their

own way. In the next section, I discuss (professional) identity and the process of its construction

19
in relation to such terms as discourse, power, agency, positioning, and subject position.

Moreover, to develop a more focused and nuanced set of concepts with which to understand

my research questions and data, I use some useful terms from poststructuralism which sits under

the umbrella of social constructionism.

2.2.1 Identity and related terms

There are many ways in which identity is thought of and theorised depending on the particular

interests and discipline of the researcher, and many terms are used to refer to identity such as

the self, subjectivity, or subject position. Identity is more than “self” (L. H. Phan, 2007); and

while identity and subjectivity are often used more or less interchangeably, subject position

takes a different meaning (Major, 2009, p. 34). I use the term “identity” rather than “self” or

“subjectivity” in this study and distinguish subject position from identity. In the following, the

different terms used to refer and conceptualise identity are discussed.

As Burr (2003, 2015) states, there is agreement on some basic assumptions about

identity among social constructionists. Social constructionism “replaces the self-contained, pre-

social and unitary individual with a fragmented and changing, socially produced phenomenon

who comes into existence and is maintained not inside the skull but in social life” (Burr, 2015,

p. 121). Employing the non-essentialist perspectives of social constructionism, Hall (1996)

viewed identity as constructed, multiple, hybrid, and dynamic in contrast with the essentialist

notion that identity was integral, original, and unified. Other researchers such as Holland

(1996), Dolby (2000), and Farrell (2000), also employ non-essentialist notions including

fluidity, contingency, plurality, and complexity, to discuss identity . To understand identity and

its construction process, it is pertinent to explore the relationship between identity and what

influences it. The next section discusses terms related to the concept of identity.

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2.2.2 Discourse

Discourse is defined differently depending on the theoretical position and purpose of the user.

Whereas in literature studies discourse refers primarily to language, texts, and talk, in social

constructionism and poststructuralism, discourse has a broader and more complex meaning.

According to Burr (2015), discourse refers to “a set of meanings, metaphors, representations,

images, stories, statements, and so on that in some way together produce a particular version

of events. It refers to a particular picture that is painted of an event, person or class of persons,

a particular way of representing it in a certain light” (p. 74). In other words, discourse makes it

possible for people to see the world in a certain way. It produces their knowledge of the world.

Discourses, thus, are not only different (due to people’s different lens and perspectives) but

also limited in the way people have to choose one out of several discourses available at a given

time and place.

The following example serves to illustrate what is meant by a discourse. In the

Vietnamese context, a good EFL teacher is expected to use Communicative Language Teaching

(CLT) as a modern teaching approach rather than a traditional approach (e.g., teacher-centred,

grammar-driven) in classrooms. The purpose is to motivate students to communicate in

English, so that they can use English for multiple purposes after graduation. However, in a

degree-valuing society like Vietnam, a different discourse of a good EFL teacher could be to

ensure students gain high marks and pass tests and exams which might be mainly grammar-

and structure-based and lack communicative aspects. There is an assumption that teachers who

have “good” students (who learn well, get high marks, and pass important tests like IELTS or

university entrance exams) would become more famous, respected, and liked by students,

parents, and society. There are different discourses surrounding “being a good EFL teacher”

and each represents or constructs this identity in a different way. Each discourse brings different

aspects into focus, raises different issues for consideration, and has different implications for

21
what Vietnamese EFL teachers should do. As shown in the example, discourses, through what

is said, written, or otherwise represented, serve to construct the phenomena of the world, and

different discourses construct these things in different ways.

According to Gee (2011), Discourse with a capital “D” (or “big ‘D’ Discourse”) is

composed of distinctive ways of writing, reading, speaking, listening, acting, interacting,

valuing, feeling, dressing, thinking, and believing and it allows people to enact specific

identities and activities. Gee used the term “discourse” (with a little “d”) for any stretch of

language in use. Little “d” discourse analysis studies how the flow of language-in-use across

time and the patterns and connections across this flow of language make sense and guide in

interpretation. Thus, “Big ‘D” Discourse” analysis embeds little “d” discourse analysis into the

ways in which language melds with bodies and things to create society and history (Gee, 2011).

Discourses are more than just language, they are inherently social and embodied, and serve as

a kind of “identity kit”, providing instruction on how to dress, talk, and act in order to take on

a particular social role that others will recognise. For the purpose of this thesis, Gee’s definition

of Big D Discourse is important in understanding how identity and professional identity are

constructed.

When describing identity, Gee (2011) argues that each of us belongs to a number of

Discourses, each of which represents one of our multiple identities. Importantly, these

Discourses do not have to, and often do not convey consistent and compatible values. Conflicts

may arise among them, and we “live and breathe these conflicts as we act out our various

Discourses” (Gee, 1996, p. ix). Gee observes that some of these conflicts are more dramatic

than others. For example, Vietnamese EFL teachers can belong to the discourse of the

constructivist teaching where they define themselves as CLT teachers, or the discourse of

Confucian teaching where they need to focus on students’ test and exam results. Teachers

encounter tests and examinations that ignore communicative aspects of the language. As

22
Vietnamese teachers, they accept that the way they teach may be considered traditional which

is criticised by educators and society. Teachers can take up or resist these Discourses to

construct their identity. Thus, in English language teaching, different discourses create their

multiple identities. Conflicts arise between discourses making their identity a site of struggle.

I see that both Discourse (Gee, 2011) and discourse (Burr, 2003, 2015) are useful for

understanding discourse and identity, so in this thesis I draw on these ideas, definitions, and

resources and bring them together. To avoid confusion and maintain consistency, from here on,

I will use “discourse” to refer to my unified interpretation, that is, discourse is more than

language, text, or talk that are often seen in the literature; it has a broader and more complex

meaning, produces knowledge of the world including knowledge about us, and we are products

of different and limited discourses.

Because we define ourselves when we talk or write (Gee, 2011), language serves as a

means for enacting and constructing our identities. However, language is not enough for such

being and doing, our identities are accordingly shaped in and through the multiple discourses

to which we belong. In other words, discourse involves situated identities and ways of

performing and recognising characteristic identities and activities. In understanding the

relationship between identity and discourse, it is necessary to discover other concepts including

power and agency.

2.2.3 Power and agency

Power

If discourses (Burr, 2003, 2015) or Discourses (Gee, 1990, 1996, 2011) produce our knowledge

of the world and thereby influence how we see the world, and if these shared understandings

inform social practices, it is evident that discourse, knowledge, and power are inextricably

linked. A common-sense understanding of the relationship between knowledge and power is

that knowledge increases a person’s power. For example, gaining more knowledge through

23
higher education boosts a person’s access to good jobs, good pay, and high status. Foucault, on

the other hand, had a quite different perspective on this relationship.

Foucault (1980) rejected the idea that power is repressive and dominates people and

that knowledge is a means of overcoming power and liberating people. According to Foucault

(1980), knowledge is never neutral or disinterested, but is produced out of power struggles and

is used to authorise and legitimate the workings of power (Danaher et al., 2000). The

relationship was characterised by Foucault as “the exercise of power perpetually creates

knowledge and, conversely, knowledge constantly induces effects of power” (ibid: 52). Put

differently, in producing knowledge, one is also making a claim for power (Mills, 2003). In this

way, power and knowledge always go together as a pair. Because the two are so inseparable,

Foucault always referred to them as power/knowledge.

Foucault also connects power and discipline. Discipline is a mechanism of power which

regulates the behaviour of individuals in the social body. This is done by regulating the

organisation of space (architecture etc.), of time (timetables) and people’s activity and

behaviour (drills, posture, movement) and is enforced with the aid of complex systems of

surveillance (O’Farrell, 2005). Foucault emphasises that power is not discipline, rather

discipline is simply one way in which power can be exercised. Power is present in other aspects

of a modern society (such institutions as prison, schools, hospitals, and army), albeit invisibly

and possibly unconsciously, through systems and regulations. For example, in prison, a central

surveillance tower would allow for observation at any, or all of the time. People who were

afraid of being watched would take responsibility for at least appearing to behave appropriately.

Disciplines, on the one hand, create categories and a range of discourses, and on the other hand,

create resistance or opposition. Foucault thus claimed, “power and resistance are the two sides

of the same coin” (Burr, 2015, p. 80). And these discourses shape us into certain kinds of

24
subjects with certain kinds of identities. This, for Foucault, is the disciplinary effect of power

and discourses.

Power can be evident in so-called “top-down” PD programmes for EFL teachers in the

Vietnamese context. Most PD programmes are designed and organised by the MOET or

institution leaders. As such they require teachers to attend. However, teachers may not want to

attend some PD programmes because the programme content may be irrelevant to their teaching

context. Those who are at the top level, often enforce the rule that they will check teachers’

attendance and if teachers miss more than a certain number of hours or days, they will not be

eligible to receive a certificate for programme completion. In this way, attendance checking

reinforces the idea that teachers are constantly being monitored. As a result, some discourses

may emerge. For example, those who follow the rules, would be considered as qualified to get

a certificate and those who do not will be classified or categorised negatively which may

exclude them from future opportunities such as job promotion or other PD participation. In

response to power relations, teachers, on the one hand, attend the programme; on the other

hand, they may resist, for example, in an implicit way, by passively participating in activities

or remaining silent during professional dialogues with others. In this example, power relations

between PD leaders and EFL teachers play an important role in creating categories and

discourses influencing teachers’ identity. Similarly, in Vietnam, EFL teachers become subjects

of a range of discourses such as the good teacher, the traditional teacher, the CLT teacher,

which shape their identities

According to Foucault (1980), power is not to be taken to be a phenomenon of one

individual’s consolidated and homogeneous domination over others, or that of one group or

class over others. Implicit in this idea of power is a sense of fluidity and mobility. Foucault

further explained:

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 Power must be analysed as something which circulates, or rather as something which

only functions in the form of a chain. It is never localised here or there, never in

anybody’s hands, never appropriated as a commodity or piece of wealth. Power is

employed and exercised through a net-like organisation. And not only do individuals

circulate between its threads; they are always in the position of simultaneously

undergoing and exercising this power. They are not only its inert or consenting target;

they are always also the elements of its articulation. In other words, individuals are the

vehicles of power, not its points of application. (Foucault, 1980, p. 98)

Foucault introduced a model for the study of power, one that views power as diffuse and

capillary, omnipresent, and both productive and repressive, both enabling and constraining. In

the context of my study, this notion of power is particularly useful and pertinent. Power moves

around the teachers through the net-like organisation of the community of practice meetings in

my study. In examining the interactions between the teachers within the CoP meetings, it is

likely that power relations and disciplines will be helpful in explaining how the teachers

constructed their professional identities.

For Foucault, individuals are constituted in and through a set of social relations, all of

which are imbued with power. Thus, power is a key element in the very formation of identity.

According to Foucault, individuals are “subjected to the complex, multiple, shifting relations

of power in their social field and at the same time are enabled to take up the position of a subject

in and through those relations” (Allen, 2002, p. 135). In other words, for Foucault, power is a

condition for the possibility of agency.

Agency

Agency represents the ability to “freely and autonomously initiate action” (Ashcroft et al.,

2013, p. 9). If a person is constructed through discourse, then this seems to afford more agency

to the discourse than it does to that person. In what sense, then, can a person be said to have

26
agency? To what extent are people able to control and shape the world around them and their

place in it? Foucault (1980) argued that although people are constituted by discourses, they are

capable of critical historical reflection and may exert some control over the discourses and

practices that they take up for their own use (Burr, 2015). Put differently, people, in some

circumstances, are capable of critically analysing the discourses that shape their lives and claim

or resist them based on the effects they want to achieve. From this perspective, power can be

loosened, agency arises, and change is possible. Change can be achieved by “opening up

marginalised and repressed discourses, making them available as alternatives from which we

may fashion alternative identities” (Burr, 2003, p. 122). This is a form of consciousness-raising,

and the purpose of it is not to impose a different identity, which would be just as oppressive,

but simply to free people from their usual ways of understanding themselves.

This perspective treats the individual as both being constructed by discourse and using

it for their own purposes. However, this is not to say that such changes are easy to implement.

Prevailing or dominant discourses are often linked to social arrangements and practices that

support the status quo and maintain the positions of powerful groups. Challenging such

discourses and resisting the positions they offer, also implicitly challenge their associated social

practices, structures, and power relations. One can therefore expect to find some resistance to

attempts to change. For example, in Vietnam influenced by Confucian culture, students may

want to raise their own voice (for example, in disagreement) over their teacher. Their voices,

however, seem not consistent with a dominant discourse that students must respect and listen

to teachers at all costs. Thus, in actively raising their voices, students are implicitly taking on

more than a struggle to change the nature of social interactions within their immediate social

circle. Recognition of this can at least help us to anticipate, understand and counter such

resistance to our attempts to change when it occurs.

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 The link between discourse, power and agency is obvious and the work to open up

marginalised and repressed discourses leading to the change in identities is important, and

possible, though difficult. In the following section, a helpful tool to analyse identity and its

construction - positioning and subject positions - is discussed.

2.2.4 Positioning and subject positions

Positioning is extremely important to my research on EFL teachers’ professional identity.

Davies and Harré (1990) define positioning as “the discursive process whereby selves are

located in conversations as observably and subjectively coherent participants in jointly

produced storylines” (p. 48). Davies and Harré (1990) explain further:

An individual emerges through the processes of social interaction, not as a relatively

fixed end product but as one who is constituted and reconstituted through the various

discursive practices in which they participate. Accordingly, who one is is always an

open question with a shifting answer depending upon the positions made available

within one’s own and others’ discursive practices. (p. 46)

This suggests that people take on various positions in interactions with others which leads to

the dynamics of discursive practice in which their positions change. They may not keep the

same positions during the conversation. For example, in a classroom, teachers can be various

kinds of actors such as presenter, speaker, listener, contributor, supporter, facilitator,

manipulator, and moral guide when they interact with students. In some certain part of a lesson,

they can be a CLT teacher or traditional teacher. Thus, identifying such positions can help us

to see not only who is playing what roles but also how participants relate to each other. This

enables us to understand the dynamics of power relations among people.

Davies and Harré (1990) distinguish between two kinds of positioning. First, there is

reflexive positioning, “in which one positions oneself” (p. 48) through discursive practices. The

second is interactive positioning, “in which what one person says positions another” (ibid: 48).

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Both reflexive and interactive positioning function to shape, expand, and/or constrain an

individual’s options for participation, and over time, their identity development (Harre & Van

Langenhove, 1991). In this way, positioning contributes to our understanding of identity. Some

researchers use positioning to explore student identity ( Ritchie, 2002; Yamakawa et al., 2009).

For example, Ritchie (2002) used positioning to investigate the dynamics of students’

interactions with same-gender and mixed-gender groups during social activities. He concluded

that a student, for instance, may struggle with multiple positional identities (good student or

victim), which could be played out in different social contexts. Using positioning in my study

may reveal the complicated nature of interpersonal relationships through which teacher

professional identity may emerge and provide a framework for analysing the dynamics of social

interactions from multiple discursive practices.

When we position ourselves or others, we take up subject positions. Subject positions

are used by some social constructionists to refer to the process by which identities are produced.

According to Weedon (2004), subject positions are made available through discourse and

discursive practices; individuals take up or resist or reinterpret these subject positions as

resources for fashioning identities through a process of identification. For example, in the

Vietnamese context, a teacher may align with the subject position of a teacher and construct

her identity by dressing formally, using formal language, and keeping a distance from students.

The subject positions this person takes up and identifies with constitute her identities.

Once we adopt a subject position in discourse, we have available to us a particular and

limited set of concepts, images, metaphors, ways of speaking, self-narratives and so on that we

take on as our own. Thus, like positioning, subject positions both constrain and shape what we

do. They provide us with our sense of who we are and what we can or cannot do, what it is

right and appropriate for us to do and what it is wrong and inappropriate for us to do. All derive

from our occupation of subject positions within discourses. Some of these positions are fleeting

29
or in a state of flux meaning that identity is never fixed but always open to change. In general,

a person can be described by the sum total of the subject positions in discourses that they occupy

at a given time; therefore, that person has multiple and changing identities (Burr, 2003, 2015).

2.2.5 Putting it all together

Above I have discussed separate concepts in relation to identity. In this section, I put these all

together to describe professional identity relevant to my study. Identity can be understood as

socially and culturally related, constructed and negotiated through language and discourses, not

fixed, stable and unitary but multiple, shifting and in conflict. A person’s identity is achieved

by a subtle interweaving of many different discourses. One way to conceptualise this is to think

of identity as a fabric consisting of various threads of discourses such as age, class, ethnicity,

gender, sexual orientation, and so on. They are woven together to produce the fabric of a

person’s identity.

Each thread is constructed through socially available discourses. We are the

combination of all these things that are available to us. Take me as an example. I am the

combination of a wife, a mother, an EFL teacher (in Vietnam), a solo parent, a PhD student,

and a novice researcher (in New Zealand). It could be seen that I construct and inhabit different

identities in different contexts, and these identities are constructed in interactions with others

(e.g., my husband, my children, my colleagues, my students, my PhD friends, and my

supervisors). These identities are often sites of struggle. On the one hand, as a teacher, I need

to spend time on PD activities that sometimes require me to sacrifice my teaching time and

income. On the other hand, as a wife and mother, I need to spend time with my family, or cover

many classes to earn money to support my family. As a result, I have to negotiate between these

discourses. In short, there is always a range of discourses that operate; within different

discourse, we negotiate different positions and inhabit multiple identities; sometimes they

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overlap and compete. However, there is space for resistance and counter-discourses, thus

people have some agency.

Beijaerd (1995) defines identity as “who or what someone is, the various meanings

people can attach to themselves, or the meanings attributed by others” (p. 282). For teachers,

their identity is mediated by their own experience inside and outside schools as well as their

own beliefs and values about what it means to be a teacher and the type of teacher they aspire

to be. Language teacher identity can be defined as “teachers’ dynamic self-conception and

imagination of themselves as language teachers, which shifts as they participate in varying

communities, interact with other individuals, and position themselves (and are positioned by

others) in social contexts” (Yazan, 2018, p. 21). Identities are not context-free but are enacted,

constructed, negotiated, and projected with others within local and global contexts. They are

also not static and fixed, but multiple, shifting, and transformative (Varghese et al. 2005).

According to Varghese et al. (2005), “in order to understand language teaching and learning

we need to understand teachers; and in order to understand teachers, we need a clear sense of

the professional, cultural, political, and individual identities which teachers claim or which are

assigned to them” (p. 22). Obviously, professional identity plays an important role in language

teachers’ teaching because it then affects students’ learning. Understanding teacher

professional identity is therefore necessary and important. Language teacher professional

identity construction is a particularly multiple, complex, and shifting process (Beauchamp &

Thomas, 2009; Kayi-Aydar, 2015, 2019). Burr (2015) states “for each of us, then, a multitude

of discourses is constantly at work constructing and producing our identity. Our identity,

therefore, originates not from inside the person, but from the social realm, a realm where people

swim in a sea of language and other sides, a sea that is invisible to us because it is the very

medium of our existence as social beings” (p. 124-125).

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 In the Vietnamese context, I argue that the fabric of Vietnamese EFL teachers’

professional identity may consist of such threads as culture, the binary of Native-English-

Speaking teachers (NESTs) and Non-Native-English-Speaking teachers (NNESTs), level of

education, and gender. However, there has always existed space for resistance among these

discourses to shape new subject positions. In the following, these five aspects of a teacher’s PI

are discussed.

The first thread refers to the culture. As Vietnamese teachers in the Confucian culture,

teachers appear to be knowledge authorities in class imparting knowledge, giving correct

answers to students, and leading traditional teaching approaches that focus on rote

memorisation and passive learning (Hằng et al., 2015, 2017; T. N. Pham & London, 2010).

However, such roles or teaching approaches have been blamed for the deficiency of English

teaching and learning by students, parents, and society over previous decades. Teachers are

then expected to modify their idea of what a good teacher is and adjust their teaching to such

constructivist teaching approaches such as student-centred teaching, communicative language

teaching, or task-based teaching.

Second, teachers in a degree-valuing society like Vietnam, may be evaluated on not

only teaching abilities and knowledge, but also qualifications or levels of education. Graduating

from a prestigious university guarantees teachers a brighter future (Hai Anh, 2013). However,

teaching requires many skills and not all of them are covered at university such as teaching

pedagogy, subject matter knowledge, knowledge of students, and ethics of teachers.

Qualifications do not tell the whole story of teaching jobs, and teachers who possesses a good

qualification from a good university are not guaranteed to be good teachers in class. As EFL

teachers, they may apply the communicative language approach in their teaching context;

however, this also means that they might not follow the tight curriculum and textbooks of the

programmes or schools which are designed with grammar- and vocabulary-focused tests and

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which ignore listening and speaking skills. This would be an example of “resistance” in

Foucauldian terms. If they do things differently from the curriculum, teachers may fear losing

ranking when their students or classes do not get good marks (Saito et al., 2008).

Third, when interacting with NESTs, Vietnamese teachers are positioned as NNESTs,

which are said to be inferior to their counterparts in terms of their English language proficiency

and to have difficulties with Western-based teaching methodologies. However, teachers are

considered to have the noblest of all professions in Vietnam, and this might enable them to

resist this positioning or challenge the dominant discourse in English language teaching

context.

The fourth is related to the gender discourse. As an EFL teacher working in a

Vietnamese university, from my point of view, there is an assumption that a teaching career in

Vietnam is stable (when one has teaching qualifications and a teaching job, he/she will be a

teacher forever) and relatively easy (one prepares lessons for a class, then he/she can reuse

these materials for other classes later). In the Vietnamese culture, the role of women is “xây tổ

ấm” (to build a home) which means that they should take care of their family above anything

else. To do this, they may need a simple or easy job that allows them to have more time for

their family. Teaching is thus considered suitable for women. Accordingly, women teachers

dominate in this sector. They intentionally or unintentionally take up this job because they

think, or are told, that they will have more time for their family. However, in reality, teachers

encounter a variety of students with different backgrounds and needs, not mention to reforms

in educational policies and experience family- and work-related issues. If they do not invest

time and effort in their lessons, and deliver boring and repeated lectures, no one wants to study

with them, thereby ending their teaching life early and losing face with students, family, friends,

and society.

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 Using social constructionism as an overall framework and the concepts of discourse,

power, agency, and positioning, will enable me to explore how Vietnamese EFL teachers

negotiate or renegotiate their professional identities. I also can see if what I contend about

Vietnamese EFL teachers’ PI as shown above is consistent with the findings of this study.

2.2.6 Empirical studies on EFL teachers’ professional identity in Vietnam

The above sections present understandings of identity as well as my argument about

Vietnamese EFL teachers’ professional identity. In this section, I review empirical studies on

Vietnamese EFL teachers’ (professional) identity to find the gap for my study.

Language teachers' identity and practice have been situated in transnational milieus

throughout the current period of globalisation (Canagarajah, 2012; Menard-Warwick, 2008; C.

D. Nguyen, 2017b). Research in this area has focused mainly on non-native English speaking

teachers (NNESTs) who are from EFL backgrounds and have constructed and negotiated their

multiple identities (national, cultural, and professional) during their postgraduate studies or

residency in Anglophone countries (T. T. H. Le, 2012; T. T. H. Le & Phan, 2013; T. T. H.

Nguyen, 2017; L. H. Phan, 2007, 2008; Samimy et al., 2011). Under this model, teachers

learned new pedagogies and socialised with the local people and other international students

using English as the medium of communication. As a result, experience gained both in

intercultural contexts and in their own countries led to profound transformations in their beliefs

and practices.

This model is also common among empirical studies about Vietnamese EFL teachers’

(professional) identity. Almost all the studies about teacher professional identity in Vietnam

have been conducted with EFL teachers who were trained in an English-speaking country and

returned to Vietnam to teach English, or with those who have experienced both cultures in

Vietnam and in other English-speaking countries. Specifically, Le and Phan (2013) while

problematising the stereotyped culture of learning English in Vietnam in which learners are

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said to lack confidence, to be dependent upon memorisation and prone to errors, to lack

communicative skills and critical thinking, pointed out that the teachers who have been exposed

to English as an international language in Australia-based TESOL programmes offered space

for alternative frameworks within which learners and teachers could view each other

differently.

Phan (2007) explored identity formation of Australian-trained Vietnamese teachers of

English by looking at their experiences as TESOL students in Australia and as teachers of

English in Vietnam. The study indicated that a strong sense of a Vietnamese national/cultural

identity is consistently constructed and confirmed by these teachers, despite their global

mobility, and their being simultaneously “here” and “there”. Phan (2008)) studied Vietnamese

EFL teachers’ identity and also explored reasons why CLT may not be appropriate for the

Vietnamese context. The findings of this study showed that Western-trained English language

Vietnamese teachers experienced changes in their identities as a result of their exposure to a

new context with different cultural and pedagogical practices although they seem to negotiate

their identities based on dominant identities such as Vietnamese national/cultural identity,

Vietnamese teacher, and Vietnamese student.

Le (2012)) explored the impact of TESOL programmes on the professional identity of

a group of Vietnamese MA TESOL teachers after their education in Australia, as well as the

process of negotiating appropriate teaching practice in local teaching contexts in Vietnam. The

findings suggested that the TESOL teachers’ self-positing in Australia as learners and as

English teachers in Vietnam contributed to their re-conceptualisation of professional identity.

Nguyen (2017) examined the identity formation of non-white international English language

teachers during their period teaching in Vietnam in the context of mobility and transnationality.

The findings indicated that all the participants self-positioned as competent and capable English

language teachers, although at times some teachers might doubt their credibility due to their

35
racial status, ultimately, they were confident about their qualifications, their language

competence and their teaching pedagogy. Although these teachers constructed their identities

based on the various relations and interrelations in the new contexts, they seemed to have a

strong sense of belonging to their national and cultural identities. The study by Nguyen and

Dao (2019) explored the professional identity development of five NNEST learners from

different backgrounds who were studying for a master’s degree in applied linguistics/TESOL

at an Australian university. These studies show that investigating the experiences of these kinds

of participants is useful to explore changes in PI.

However, the majority of TESOL teachers in the world today are non-native English

speakers who have spent their lives pursuing careers in their own home country (Canagarajah,

1999; C. D. Nguyen, 2017b). It means that not all teachers have had access to transnational

spaces for their identity formation. There was almost no chance for them to socialise or develop

their profession in transnational contexts (study or residency in English-speaking countries for

instance). There are some recent studies on NNESTs who had not studied abroad. For example,

Nguyen (2016) explored the identity of six primary school English-language teachers in

Vietnam who were all experienced and highly regarded teachers in terms of both teaching

expertise and English-language proficiency. Their years of teaching experience ranged from 13

to 21 years. The findings revealed that the participating teachers projected their images as

teachers of English to young learners through a wide range of metaphors, which were

subsequently classified into five groups: ‘artists’, ‘mothers’, ‘trial judges’, ‘intercultural

promoters’ and ‘democrats’. These findings offer important insights into primary school

English-language teachers’ multiple identities, the particularity of teaching language to young

learners, and Vietnamese teachers’ construction of identities in relation to the local context.

Such studies are important for the literature investigating Vietnamese EFL teachers.

However, it can be clearly seen that there is a lack of research on the professional identities of

36
Vietnamese EFL teachers who have spent their lives pursuing careers in their own home

country and have had little access to transnational spaces as well as a lack of research on tertiary

teachers. My study will fill this gap in the literature.

2.3 Social constructivism – The learning theory by Vygotsky

Although social constructionism and social constructivism are connected and sometimes used

interchangeably, there is a significant distinction in the way I use these theories in this study.

For me, social constructivism, a theory of learning, focuses on an individual’s learning that

occurs due to their interactions with others, while social constructionism, a theory of being,

goes well beyond knowledge construction, attempting to explain how we come to “be” certain

kinds of people in certain kinds of contexts, rather than just how we come to know certain

things.

Social constructivism, moves away from essentialist and context-independent notions

of psychological processes (e.g. dispositions, personality traits, intelligence, etc.) toward the

transactional view of social and psychological phenomena as processes embedded and co-

constructed within contexts and intrinsically interwoven with them (Vianna & Stetsenko,

2006). Thus, social constructivism fits within the framework of social constructionism as

discussed in section 2.2 of this chapter. Social constructivism emphasises the importance of

culture and context in understanding how knowledge and knowing develop in the teaching and

learning process (Derry, 1999; Pagram & McMahon, 1997). This perspective is closely linked

to the work of Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky (1896-1934).

Vygotsky used the metaphor of water to explain his perceptions of teaching, learning,

and development within the sociocultural context (Wink & Putney, 2002). Water extinguishes

fire, but when it is separated into parts, hydrogen burns, and oxygen sustains fires, thus we

cannot separate water into parts and still maintain its integrity. Similarly, we cannot isolate the

individual from the context or culture and expect to fully comprehend him/her. In other words,

37
Vygotsky argued that the individuals and their environment should not be viewed as separate

factors. Rather, each mutually shapes the other in a “spiral process of growth” (M. J. Hall, 1997,

p. 22).

In his research, Vygotsky focused on the cognitive development of children. He stated

that every child has elementary mental functions including attention, sensation, perception, and

memory. Through interaction with the sociocultural environment, these elementary mental

functions are developed into more sophisticated and effective mental processes or strategies

which are called higher mental functions. All higher mental functions “first appear as

interactions between a knowledgeable member of society and the child” (Gredler, 2009, p. 336)

or “are internalised social relationships” (Wertsch, 2009, p. 66). In other words, the

development of higher mental functions or cognition is a mediated activity, which occurs first

on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (inter-psychological),

and then inside the child (intra-psychological) (Wink & Putney, 2002). Therefore, a child’s

development cannot be understood by a study of the individual. Vygotsky never saw the child

as an individual but rather as a member of their cultural milieu (Gray & MacBlain, 2015).

Development is thus, according to Vygotsky (1978), not an individual process but the result of

an aggregate of social relations embedded inside the individual. Through relationships and

interactions, children can collaborate to achieve a shared goal.

The prevailing view at Vygotsky’s time was that learning depends on, and follows, the

developmental stage of the child. Vygotsky broke new ground in suggesting that instruction

can move ahead of development, instead of following it, stretching the child’s thinking, and

eliciting thinking structures. He did not view learning and development as separate processes

whereby development takes place before learning can occur. The relationship between learning

and development is thus dynamic, reciprocal, and interrelated (Vygotsky, 1978).

38
 It should be noted that Vygotsky’s social constructivism is formulated in the context of

child development. Therefore, the applications of his theories to professional development,

which falls under the umbrella of adult learning, may seem to be stretching the scope of its

theoretical implications (Eun, 2008). However, research into Vygotsky’s theory reveals that he

saw development as a continuous, cumulative, and cyclical process that involves both

regressions and progressions (DiPardo & Potter, 2003). This means that the process inherent in

learning and development is fundamentally the same for both adults and children (Eun, 2008).

Bransford et al. (2000) share a similar idea that “the principles of learning and their implications

for designing the learning environment apply equally to child and adult learning” (p. 27). In

general, Vygotsky’s learning theory provided an understanding of learning and development.

More specifically, learning is interactive both in the sense that we must interact with sources

of ideas/knowledge in social settings, as well as in the sense that we must take an active part in

reconstructing ideas/knowledge within our own minds. Similarly, development begins as an

interpersonal process of meaning-making and then becomes an individualised process of

making sense. When we communicate with others (interpersonal communication), new

concepts or ideas from this social interaction are transformed into intrapersonal communication

where we can have a conversation with ourselves about what we know through thinking and

creating texts. Communication about those same ideas will move again into the interpersonal

or social level when we talk with others about what we know.

In the following section, the central principles and concepts of Vygotsky’s theory are

reviewed in order to better understand social constructivism as well as its application for adult

learning.

2.3.1 The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)

The Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is perhaps one of Vygotsky’s most widely

recognised and well-known ideas and is widely used in studies about teaching and learning in

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many subject areas (Chaiklin, 2003). Vygotsky (1978, 1986) conceptualised a ZPD as a way of

viewing what children are coming to know. His work as a teacher and a researcher allowed him

to realise that children were able to solve problems beyond their actual development level if

they were given guidance in the form of prompts or leading questions from someone who is

more advanced or more capable. Vygotsky proposed that each child, in any domain, has an

actual developmental level, referred to as those tasks a child could successfully perform

independently, and immediate potential for development within that domain, implied those

tasks successfully done by the child with support from a more experienced adult such as a

parent or a teacher or a more competent peer. Vygotsky termed the difference between the two

levels the Zone of Proximal Development. He defined the ZPD as “the distance between the

actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of

potential development as determined through problem-solving under adult guidance or in

collaboration with more capable peers”(Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86) or “what the child is able to do

in collaboration today he will be able to do independently tomorrow” (Rieber & Carton, 1987,

p. 211). He explained further: “the actual development level characterises mental development

retrospectively, while the ZPD characterises mental development prospectively” (Vygotsky,

1978, p. 87). Wink and Putney (2002, p. 95) conceptualise this idea of Vygotsky as follows:

Past learning Actual development level

Present learning Zone of Proximal development
Future learning Potential development level

The ZPD is where the past, present, and future intersect. The zone allows performance

before competence or learning before development to happen.

So, what happens in the ZPD? I imagine that as an EFL teacher, I receive instructional

support from someone more capable within a PD programme. I then internalise the new

knowledge and become more able to perform independently in my own similar problem-

40
solving circumstance. When applied to a common real-life situation, an example of a ZPD

would be when I learn a new concept, I understand it when it is explained, but after leaving the

context, going home, I cannot explain it to my friends or family. Thus, it is only through

continual guidance from or collaboration with more capable people, I can grasp knowledge and

develop skills that are more complex and move on to being able to know or do something well

enough to share it with others. These examples illustrate the importance of the ZPD and of the

provision of continuous support or collaboration with others for the process of knowledge

construction as described by Vygotsky.

Vygotsky clearly acknowledged that children are individuals with different levels of

potential (Gray & MacBlain, 2015). He pointed out that even when two children of the same

age display a similar level of ability, their potential may be limited by personal or internal

factors such as intelligence and motivation, or by external social and environmental factors. In

the context of teacher professional development, this implies that the development or changes

of different participants will vary regardless of whether they are novice or experienced teachers.

Thus “scaffolding” based on the participants’ characteristics and needs is important.

2.3.2 Scaffolding

Scaffolding is another fundamental part of the ZPD. In its literal sense, scaffolding is a support

structure that is erected around a building under construction. When the building is strong

enough, the scaffolding can be removed, and the building will remain strong and stable. The

term scaffolding was coined by Wood et al. (1976) as a metaphor for the support a teacher or

tutor provides in helping children move from joint to independent problem-solving. Scaffolding

stresses the important role of social interaction over cognitive development in a way that

learning first takes place at the social or inter-individual level. Learning and development occur

in the ZPD due to interactions with a more knowledgeable other.

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 Vygotsky (1978) used the term More Knowledgeable Other (MKO) to characterise

individuals who had a better understanding or a higher level of ability than learners in doing

specific tasks (Roth & Lee, 2007). Although the MKO is normally assumed to be a teacher,

parent, coach, or older adult, it might also be a peer or a young person. The MKO could share

his or her knowledge or expertise with learners to assist them to improve their knowledge and

cognition. In this way, the MKO scaffold learning. Much of the important learning that learners

go through occurs through social interaction with the MKO. The MKO would become less

involved in learners’ learning development as learners gain the required skills on their own.

This term interests me a lot in that all the participants in this study are teachers, vary in age,

teaching experience, and years of service and I wonder who the MKOs will be and if they are

senior teachers.

Much has been written about social constructivist learning theory and its applications

to outcomes-based teaching and learning (Amineh & Asl, 2015; Eun, 2008; Kiraly, 2014;

Palincsar, 1998; Schreiber & Valle, 2013; Wink & Putney, 2002; Yang & Wilson, 2006). Social

constructivist learning theory is not only relevant for teaching and learning in school settings,

it is also applicable for the professional development of teachers in their workplaces where they

learn to develop their profession. According to Eun (2008), both professional development and

Vygotsky’s social constructivism consider social interaction to be the main source underlying

human development, therefore grounding professional development within Vygotsky’s theory

seems most appropriate. PD for teachers and EFL teachers in the context of Vietnam is further

discussed in the next section.

2.4 Professional Development for EFL teachers

2.4.1 The importance of Professional Development for teachers

Professional development (PD) is defined as “an ongoing learning process in which teachers

engage voluntarily to learn how best to adjust their teaching to the learning needs of their

42
students” (Diaz-Maggioli, 2003, p. 1). Therefore, PD is important to teacher development, and

students’ outcomes which accordingly influences the quality of school and educational reform

implementation (e.g., Desimone, 2011; Kabilan & Veratharaju, 2013; H. N. Tran et al., 2020).

In the field of English language teaching, PD is essential to enable EFL teachers to help their

students “develop proficiency in the target language and an understanding of the cultures

associated with that language” (Diaz-Maggioli, 2003, p. 3). PD for EFL teachers at the tertiary

level is more critical and urgent for several reasons. First, they frequently encounter “challenges

as a result of changes in curriculum, national tests, and student needs” in the educational reform

context (J. C. Richards & Farrell, 2005, p. vii). Second, they are living in countries that respond

to current trends of globalization and internalization. Third, they are teaching in higher

education which is highly prone to economic, social, and technological changes and at the same

time seen as a driver for economic and societal development (Jacob et al., 2015).

2.4.2 Professional Development models

Despite recognition of the importance of PD for EFL teachers as being at the heart of nearly

every educational effort to improve English teaching and learning, research has shown that

many PD models appear ineffective in supporting changes in teacher practices and student

learning (Darling-Hammond et al., 2017). Traditional approaches of teacher PD based on a

training paradigm such as workshops, seminars, conferences, or courses are no longer adequate

for reform implementation and have been criticised as being brief, fragmented, incoherent,

decontextualised and isolated from real classroom situations (T. Borg, 2012; Diaz-Maggioli,

2003; Henderson, 2012; Hunzicker, 2011; OECD, 2014; Sandholtz, 2002; Yildirim, 2007).

Specifically, Hunzicker (2011) argues that “one-shot”, “sit and get” workshops are becoming

less effective in today’s busy world. Much of the information gained is not likely to be

remembered, and even less is likely to be applied once teachers return to their daily teaching

routine. Similarly, Diaz-Maggioli (2003) states that traditional PD strategies such as one-shot

43
workshops hardly provide teachers with opportunities to translate theoretical knowledge into

effective classroom practices.

According to T. Borg (2012), the most common form of PD for teachers in schools is

one that runs over a long period, during which teachers work alone, interspersed with an

organisational one-day training workshop or expert presentation on a pre-packaged programme

or resource. Henderson (2012) adds that traditional models of PD focus on problems framed by

leadership that draw on external expertise and are often arranged as one-time meetings when a

presenter is available and shows up at a site to lead one or two discrete meetings bound in space

and time, and controlled externally.

Yildirim (2007) also points out four criticisms directed at the in-service model of

teacher PD which align with Henderson’s view. First, the content of these training programmes

is based on an external view of what knowledge and skills teachers need to be equipped with,

leading to a mismatch with teachers’ needs. Second, the traditional in-service model of teacher

PD separates teachers’ daily work when teachers are expected not to sacrifice instructional time

with their students, but to invest in PD at the end of the school day, on weekends, or on specially

allocated PD days. A third criticism relates to the conceptualisation of teachers as passive

recipients of knowledge rather than active participants in the thinking and learning process.

Finally, and more importantly, many in-service teacher training programmes are fragmented

and intellectually superficial and seem not to consider what we know about how adults and

teachers learn. Many traditional in-service models appear not to accommodate explicit

consideration of a sound theory of learning as in such traditional forms of PD, teachers sit silent

as stones (Sandholtz, 2002).

Vietnam and many countries in Asia (e.g., Cambodia, Laos, China) have followed a

similar trend in implementing major educational reforms, and putting an emphasis on English

education at all levels (Dau, 2020; H. Tran, 2016). The rapid increase in the demand for English

44
and the implementation of nation-wide policies in English language teaching and learning have

brought to light a number of unforeseen challenges and thus led to the focus of PD by these

countries as a vital role in the enactment of the national education reforms. However, limited

access to PD and low quality of PD programmes for EFL teachers are reported (Dau, 2020).

For example, in Cambodia, PD programmes were “developed by external agencies and not

assessed for suitability to local context…[and] delivery methods were inappropriate, and the

focus was on the time spent in the programme rather than on its quality” (Reid & Kleinhenz,

2015, p. 49). In China, PD features top-down processes without much consideration of teaching

practices or trainees’ needs and experience (Yan & He, 2015), therefore, teachers “did not apply

what they have learned to improve teaching practices or student learning” (M. Lu et al., 2017,

p. 1).

Similarly in Vietnam, the majority of PD opportunities offered to EFL teachers have

been heavily “top-down”, designed and imposed by the institutional leaders or the government

(Dau, 2020; V. C. Le, 2020a; V. T. Nguyen, 2018; H. Tran, 2016; Tuyet, 2015). As such, they

are controversial, ambivalent, contested (T. N. T. Bui & Nguyen, 2016) and unlikely to be

beneficial to teachers’ development. Tran (2016) and Dau (2020) agree that the formulation

and implementation of national policies showed heavy top-down imposition, with institutional

PD management seriously challenging lecturers’ capacity to be authors of their own PD. Most

PD programmes have adopted a cascade approach: only a few key teachers from each province

are invited to participate in the programme, which is conducted in major cities, and those

participants are responsible for passing on the knowledge to their colleagues at their

institutions. This type of training programme might hinder the effectiveness of PD activities

because ‘champion’ teachers might not be good facilitators and may lack leadership skills or

the skills necessary to guide their colleagues effectively. Thus what was originally trained at

the top level might not be produced exactly the same at the lower level (Ha, 2013). In evaluating

45
teachers’ needs and analysing whether a cascade model of trainer training or Training of Trainer

(ToT) programmes adopted by Project 2020 addressed teachers’ needs, Vu and Pham (2014)

concluded that “despite significant efforts, the programmes still need a sharper focus on course

design and delivery knowledge and a better connection with participants’ target training

contexts” (p. 89).

The result in Vu and Pham’s study was similar to the study by Nguyen (2018). Nguyen

explored Vietnamese tertiary EFL teachers’ perceptions of a large-scale national training

course, which is part of the government’s initiative to develop teachers’ skills and knowledge

in relation to the use of technology in teaching. She found that although the course was

important for introducing modern technologies to language education in Vietnam, it failed to

acknowledge the wide variety of teaching settings and individual teachers’ needs because of

the pre-packaged and standardised nature of its content. According to Ha (2013), workshops

were found to be too theoretical, did not allow time for practice, and the content was often

irrelevant to teachers’ contexts; peer observation models did not benefit Vietnamese teachers

as the aim of observation was seen to be for teacher evaluation rather than for giving

constructive feedback to improve teaching strategies. According to Tran (2016), formal PD

such as workshop, seminar, conference, and post-graduate study which was facilitated by

external expert-presenters and could lead to qualifications, although considered a significant

way of upgrading teachers’ content knowledge and skills to support their teaching and policy

enactment, tended to have limited relevance to teachers’ needs. Teachers had limited agency in

planning PD sessions and their professional needs were not always recognised. She also pointed

out that teachers were reluctant to express their ideas and to question leaders’ directives in the

Vietnamese context and that they undertook PD to either please their leaders or to support their

own promotion prospects.

46
 To address the problems described above, collaborative PD models have been

increasingly adopted as vehicles for reform implementation and subsequent institution changes

as well as teacher development. Many researchers are in favour of such models. For example,

T. Borg (2012) argued that teacher communities of practice offer an alternative to traditional

models of teacher professional development. Deni and Malakolunthu (2013) concluded that

collaborative learning models could serve as “a viable mechanism” for teachers’ PD (p. 559).

According to Clarke (2006) (as cited in T. Borg, 2012), professional development programmes

may be “transformed by learning communities where practitioners co-construct knowledge” (p.

10). In non–higher education contexts, positive results for teacher professional development

when working in teams have already been identified. Studies have shown that teacher

professional development in teams results in changes in teaching practice (e.g., Meirink et al.,

2010; Vescio et al., 2008), new knowledge about teaching (e.g., Kafyulilo et al., 2015) and

changes in teachers’ attitudes (e.g., Meirink et al., 2010). In higher education contexts, which

differ from other educational contexts, a systematic review conducted by Gast et al. (2017)

reports that participation in a team-based PD intervention results in collegiality, critical

reflection, teaching approach, pedagogical knowledge, and teacher identity.

However, effective collaborative learning communities for teachers in schools are still

rare in the literature (T. Borg, 2012). T. Borg (2012) argued that each and every case study of

such models adds another layer of understanding to the processes through which these

communities might be fostered and sustained over time. He stressed that despite the significant

number of case-based reports in the literature, there are few empirical studies that document

how communities of practice are born, how they work and evolve and how they can be

sustained in educational communities. While working in teams/communities and collaborating

with colleagues has been more prevalent in primary and secondary education over the last

several years, team-based PD in higher education is still in its infancy (Gast et al., 2017).

47
According to Vangrieken et al. (2015), realising teacher collaboration is challenging and

various factors hinder effective collaboration, of which, a strong-rooted culture of

individualism, autonomy, and independence of teachers and rare critical reflection on and

discussion of teaching practice may hinder deep-level collaboration to occur. Moreover, not

every form of professional development, even those with the greatest evidence of positive

impact, is of itself relevant to all teachers (Avalos, 2011). There is thus a constant need to study,

experiment, discuss and reflect on the interacting links and influences of the history and

traditions of groups of teachers, the educational needs of their student populations, the

expectations of their education systems, teachers’ working conditions and the opportunities to

learn that are open to them (Avalos, 2011).

In Vietnam, some collaborative models have been recently introduced (Ha, 2013; V.

C. Le, 2018; Ngoc, 2018; Q. N. Phan, 2017; Vo & Nguyen, 2010). Vo and Nguyen (2010), for

example, examined Critical Friend Groups (CFG) as a PD model in a Vietnamese context where

EFL teachers, in particular, did not seem to have the habit of working together. The participants

were four beginning EFL university teachers. After a semester participating in CFGs, they

expressed great pleasure and satisfaction with their CFG experience. It offered them a rare

opportunity to exchange their professional ideas, learn from each other, and help each other to

professionally develop, all in a relaxed manner. It also helped them to build up good working

relationships and a sense of professional community. Moreover, the participants reported that

this model of teacher professional development helped them to improve their teaching

performance a great deal. Vo and Nguyen, however, found that the more members there were

in a group, the more difficult it was to arrange feedback, meeting times, and places to suit

everyone. Therefore, the number of participants should be considered. Since CFG involves

mutual observation and criticism, for CFG to be useful in Vietnam, Vo and Nguyen (2010)

suggested that CFGs be composed of peers so that they worked comfortably with each other.
48
In addition, when CFG is introduced to a faculty for the first time, it should be started with

first-year teachers who enjoy group work.

In response to the need for language proficiency improvement for EFL teachers under

Project 2020, Ngoc (2018) posed an urgent need to establish and develop more language

learning communities (LLCs) in which teachers were provided with PD opportunities via

collaboration, dialogue, reflection, inquiry, and leadership and had less stressful environments

for the actual use of English without worrying about being watched and judged. According to

Ngoc (2018), these LLCs should first focus on allowing individuals to share norms and values

that facilitate mutual understanding and reflective dialogue about their experience and practice.

This model could be established at the institutional level or as language camps at the district

levels. Despite Ngoc’s (2018) call for change, however, LLCs are not yet in use.

Phan (2017) investigated the processes of a professional learning activity which was

established in 2008 in a city of Vietnam. She referred to this activity as a professional learning

community (PLC), a community which operated as a learning site for primary school English

language teachers in a city in Vietnam. She observed the meetings of four PLCs and conducted

interviews with leaders, an EFL consultant, and teachers after observing their EFL lessons. The

results showed that PLCs were recontextualised with relevant features for particularities of

specific contexts (formal structure, multi-layered leadership, and complex learning

relationship). The findings suggested that although established as a top-down formal

professional activity, the reshaped PLCs allowed for bottom-up professional learning. The

teacher participants engaged in their learning process as active and thoughtful learners.

However, teachers’ full participation was affected by factors including insufficiently developed

collegiality among teachers, cultural expectations concerning their social roles in leading

professional learning, and time constraints.

49
 According to Le (2018), PD should be located in specific school-based practices where

teachers can investigate and problematise their teaching and reflect on their experiential

knowledge. An action research (AR) project funded by Project 2020 and organised by the

Provincial Education and Training Authorities aimed to develop teachers’ AR skills as well as

other pedagogical skills and target language proficiency in the hope that this would improve

their classroom practice. The initial project failed until Le participated in this project as the

facilitator. Le changed from the larger scale project into small-scale project with 33 participants

from 11 secondary schools who were purposely selected based on their high proficiency in

English (C1 level on the CEFR) and an average of 7.5 years of teaching experience. He

designed the project for teachers to carry out their own AR projects. A follow-up seminar at

which participants presented their research outcomes to all EFL teachers from the province was

held three weeks after the participants had completed their research. The project was successful

as teachers were given adequate training in methods and strategies for identifying research

issues embedded in their classroom teaching, collecting, analysing, and interpreting data,

reporting on the outcomes of their research, and expressing the difficult circumstances they

often faced. However, teachers’ voluntary participation was a concern that might lead to Le’s

(2018) claim that “before AR becomes voluntary, it has to be first imposed, but mediated with

appropriate tools such as teacher policy and teacher education strategies aimed at enabling

teachers to deepen their personal theoretical and practical knowledge of teaching” (p. 124).

The study by Ha (2013) examines the implementation and operation of a community of

practice (CoP) professional development model at Lang Son Teachers’ College, in north-

eastern Vietnam. An eight-week CoP programme was organised in 2011 for 25 EFL teachers

in the Foreign Language Department. The investigation revealed that the majority of the

participants engaged fully in the CoP programme and perceived it as useful for their

professional development. Mutual engagement was slowly built up; shared enterprise and joint

50
repertoire were developed during the CoP programme. Teachers, institution leaders,

professional development developers and facilitators were considered as factors which

mediated teachers’ engagements in CoP professional development. Ha argued that the CoP

model has many advantages for teachers wanting to improve their professional skills and solve

common problems in their professional life. She stressed “it would be especially useful in

combination with the more traditional top-down approaches widespread in Vietnamese PD

programmes. The shared involvement of teachers, educational leaders and related stakeholders

in the PD field would be needed to enable this model and make it popular in educational settings

in Vietnam” (p. xi). The study by Ha (2013) on the CoP as a model for teacher PD is further

discussed in section 2.5.2 .

In general, these collaborative models are beneficial in terms of enhancing teacher

learning, meeting teachers’ needs, assisting teachers in responding positively to current

challenges, and benefiting their teaching practice, as opposed to the top-down and theoretical

PD initiatives imposed by the government (Dau, 2020). However, the researchers of such

models also note some issues regarding a lack of voluntary participation (V. C. Le, 2018; Q. N.

Phan, 2017), a lack of distributed leadership among teacher participants (Ha, 2013; Q. N. Phan,

2017), and a lack of trust and collegiality (Q. N. Phan, 2017; Vo & Nguyen, 2010). Importantly,

the majority of researchers (Ha, 2013; V. C. Le, 2018; Ngoc, 2018; Q. N. Phan, 2017)

highlighted a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches as a must for these models

to work in the Vietnamese context. The combination led to a change, modification, or reshaping

of such models. According to Ha (2013), the structure of the CoP in her project was not exactly

the same as the original one due to the involvement of college and faculty leaders and the CoP

facilitator. Phan (2017) similarly stated that the principle that a PLC needs developing on a

natural and voluntary basis does not work in the context she studied. Although the teachers

51
wished to have a community to learn from each other to teach English at primary schools, their

PLCs were only developed until they were officially established by school leaders.

Apart from these above collaborative models, CoPs (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger,

1998; Wenger et al., 2002) are increasingly being used in several fields including school

settings for in-service teacher PD. The idea of CoPs for PD will be further discussed in the next

section.

2.5 Communities of practice (CoPs)

Community of practice (CoP) is a well-established concept focusing on socially situated

informal and work-oriented learning. This idea has become increasingly well-known and has

been applied in a wide range of fields including business, industry, health, and education. Lave

and Wenger (1991) first coined this term in 1991 when they studied several different

communities such as Yucatec midwives in an American Indian community, and Vai and Gola

tailors in West Africa, US naval Quartermasters, modern meat cutters, and non-drinking

alcoholics in Alcoholics Anonymous. They concluded that in contrast to school situations,

direct transmission of information in a formalised way was generally not as important for

workplace/informal learning as the involvement in a community. According to Lave and

Wenger (1991), a new member can move into a community from legitimate peripheral

participation (LPP) to full membership, so learning was facilitated within a community of

newcomer/old-timer or new/veteran members. Wenger (1998) maintained that engagement in

social practice is the essential means by which learning takes place in a CoP. As new members

participate and are socialised, there emerges a shared set of common understandings that are

held by the community. It is apparent that the idea of CoP as developed by Lave and Wenger

(1991) and Wenger (1998) challenged the traditional view of learning as isolated or internalised

knowledge transmission from teacher to students. Learning in CoP “occurs within the context

of social relationships with other members of the community who have similar, if not identical,

52
issues and concerns from the realm of practice” (Buysse et al., 2003, p. 267). CoP aligns with

Vygotsky’s learning theory (section 2.3). Through social interaction with the MKO and from

scaffolding within CoP, learners achieve higher cognitive development. Overall, a CoP can be

understood as a group of people “who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a

topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interacting on an ongoing

basis” (Wenger et al., 2002, p. 4).

Because CoP is an evolving concept, it has attracted so much attention in so many fields

from both practitioners and researchers that the original concept has been broadened and

applied in different contexts. Different authors have provided different definitions. Therefore,

I believe that rather than trying to find a single all-encompassing definition, it is perhaps

preferable to explore characteristics which would be present in CoP and regard the term CoP

as an umbrella term, covering a range of groups that might have more of some of the

characteristics than others (Kimble et al., 2008). In the next section, I discuss three elements

that are needed for a successful implementation of the model.

2.5.1 Three elements

According to Wenger (1998), not all social groups are communities of practice, and three

elements of CoP will help distinguish it from other types of community. These elements are (i)

mutual engagement, (ii) a joint enterprise, and (iii) a shared repertoire. They are interrelated

and are conditions for a sustained and robust community over time (ibid.).

Mutual engagement refers to the connections among participants. Through

participation in the community, members establish norms and build collaborative relationships

that bring them together as a social entity. Wenger (1998) sees mutual engagement as the

defining characteristic of a CoP. He puts it, “practice does not exist in the abstract. It exists

because people are engaged in actions whose meanings they negotiate with one another”

(Wenger, 1998, p. 73). This means that CoP is based on, and in, social relationships.

53
 Joint enterprise understood as a shared goal is an element that holds each person

accountable in a CoP. It is the way members’ understanding about the essence of the

community binds them together, so that they feel some ownership. The joint enterprise should

not be mandated from the outside but should be negotiated by CoP members, who create a

shared response to a situation. Wenger (1998) suggests that joint enterprise arises out of the

negotiation, is defined in the process of pursuing it, and creates a pattern of mutual

accountability (Clair, 2007). According to Clair (2007), the notion of mutual accountability is

an important one. On the surface, there is a responsibility to work effectively and efficiently

toward the negotiated goal. This is the clearest level of accountability. There is also a

responsibility to work within the social network of the community by adhering to the norms of

behaviour expected of a community member. What binds participants in a CoP is not only a

shared goal but also ground rules they set together.

The third element of a CoP is shared repertoire. Wenger (1998) suggests the repertoire

“includes routines, words, tools, ways of doing things, stories, gestures, symbols, genres,

actions or concepts that the community has produced or adopted in the course of its existence,

and which have become part of its practice” (p. 83). In other words, repertoire refers to the

resources that participants use to create meaning. It should be noted that each member of a CoP

does not have to use each resource, rather the key feature is the existence of a shared repertoire

to draw on. Moreover, repertoire is not static but evolves over time in response to internal and

external changes. For example, new members coming into a CoP may introduce and produce

new resources. In many ways, the repertoire represents the content of the CoP and the other

two elements represent the process.

Overall, the three elements of mutual engagement, joint enterprise, and shared

repertoire fit together and reinforce each other, “weaving a mesh that is fairly flexible but still

capable of constraint” (Clair, 2007, p. 28). This defines action and activity but also has profound

54
effects on the identities of those within a CoP. As such, these three essential elements will be

closely examined in this study.

2.5.2 The application of the CoP as a PD model for teachers

CoPs are used more and more for teacher PD at various educational levels (e.g., T. Borg, 2012;

Mercieca, 2017; Yildirim, 2007). One of the most important reasons for creating a CoP for

teacher learning was identified by Darling-Hammond and McLaughlin (1995) when they

stated, “teachers learn by doing, reading, and reflecting (just as students do); by collaborating

with other teachers. That kind of learning enables teachers to make the leap from theory to

accomplished practice” (p.602). The advantage of CoP is that a teacher can “check in at

whatever level best fits their ZPD, picking up maybe just one idea at a time that might work in

their particular situation, trialling it with students, then receiving feedback on how things went

from a supportive group, before trying again” (Mercieca, 2017, p. 7). Yildirim (2007) claims

that a CoP approach to teachers’ PD is “more beneficial than the so-called traditional learning

opportunities envisaged by many in-service teacher training models” (p. 233). CoP creates a

powerful learning environment where teachers can find opportunities to share, cooperate,

understand, and support each other; become aware of their weaknesses and strengths; and

enhance their perceptions of teaching English through collaborative, dialogic, and reflective

learning (Yildirim, 2007).

However, the uptake of CoPs within higher education institutions has been

surprisingly limited (Mercieca, 2017). According to Mercieca (2017), whilst a number of

higher education institutions have trialled CoPs, the practice has not significantly spread in

the twenty years since it was first promulgated. Similarly, T. Borg (2012) found that CoPs as

teacher learning communities in higher education are rare in the literature.

In the Vietnamese context, the idea and concept of CoP have been used by several

scholars, but in various ways. For example, Bui (2017) broadly used CoP in her study as a

55
theoretical framework for understanding novice teachers and their participation in PD.

Specifically, she explored PD activities in the novice teachers’ CoPs. C. D. Nguyen (2017b)

stated that teachers in his study actively crossed the school boundary to attend various CoPs

that helped construct their practice and identity. These communities of practice included a

separate group of primary English language teachers, English classes for adult learners, an

imagined community between local and expatriate teachers and their own families. Only Ha

(2013) adopted the CoP as a PD model for 25 EFL of the Foreign Language Department at

Lang Son teachers’ College, in north-eastern Vietnam for eight weeks. She explored the

operation process of the CoP through the three elements of mutual engagement, shared

repertoire, and joint enterprise. According to Phan (2017), these three elements seem to be

inadequate to uncover the dynamic and complex nature of teacher learning. Phan (2017) argued

that Ha's (2013) study, therefore, failed to provide in-depth accounts of how the teacher learning

process occurred in that community. My model of CoP is different from Ha’s (2013) model

and this is explained in Chapter 3.

To conclude, in this study, the CoP is defined as an informal group of teachers based

on their internal motivation for professional development. Teachers voluntarily participate

together in discussion and decision making, and share and build knowledge with a group

identity, shared goals, and interactive repertoire. They also have common ground or ground

rules to make their group environment safe to share and bond them together. In such a CoP

model, PD of teachers is viewed not as a one-shot, one-size-fits-all activity but rather as a

voluntary and evolving process of professional self-disclosure, reflection, and growth which all

feature the effectiveness of PD as stated in the literature (see section 2.4). This definition not

only guides the setting-up process of CoP but also distinguishes this model from other current

models such as PLCs, CoP, AR employed in Vietnam.

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2.5.3 The CoP and teacher professional identity

Some scholars (e.g., Deni & Malakolunthu, 2013; Gast et al., 2017; Green et al., 2013) assert

that participating in collaborative PD interventions including a CoP affects not only teachers’

teaching practice but also their view about themselves as teachers (or teacher professional

identity) (see section 2.4). According to Deni and Malakolunthu (2013), teachers in their study

reported that they gained better understanding of themselves as teachers and their role in the

classroom when they viewed their professional commitments from other points of view.

Participants in the study by Green et al. (2013) stated during interviews that their understanding

of what it means to be a university teacher had changed. Being part of a community of practice

affected not only what the teachers did but also what kind of teacher they were. Teachers

became more aware of the role they played in their students’ development and how to influence

this development. They gained greater confidence and became more innovative in this regard.

One teacher in the study, for example, described having greater confidence because they felt

that they had done something which was perceived by others as worthwhile.

There is little research on the link between the CoP as a PD model for EFL teachers and

their professional identity in the context of Vietnam and other contexts. Moreover, as discussed

in section 2.2.6, the dominant model for investigating EFL teachers’ professional identities is

to explore non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) from EFL backgrounds who have

constructed and negotiated their multiple identities (national, cultural, and professional) during

their postgraduate studies or residency in Anglophone countries. Further studies are needed to

explore EFL teachers who have spent their lives pursuing careers in their own home country

and have had few chances to access the transnational spaces.

Collectively, the literature consistently suggests a positive influence of collaborative

PD on teachers’ identity or practice. However, little research has explored both professional

identity and professional practices simultaneously. In addition, there is absence of studies

57
investigating professional identity and practice shifting process due to participation in the CoP.

These are the gaps that my study addressees.

2.6 Summary

This chapter reviewed relevant literature to position this study within a broader theoretical

framework. The chapter covered three main elements in the study: the CoP, teacher professional

identity, and EFL practice. Social constructionism (Burr, 2003, 2015) as the theoretical

framework underpinning this study provides a lens to understand how knowledge including

knowledge about humans (teacher professional identity) is constructed. Social constructivism

as a learning theory (Vygotsky, 1978) enables me as the researcher to understand how EFL

teaching and learning function in Vietnam, as well as how the CoP is formed and how it

influences professional learning and identity. I have described my definition of CoP for this

study. Finally, the gaps have been found after reviewing the link between the CoP and teacher

professional identity.

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 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN

3.1 Introduction

As noted in the previous chapter, the main focus of this study is on the process of the CoP as a

PD model and the professional identity formation of EFL teachers in Vietnam. This study was

designed as a qualitative case study to investigate the complexity and situatedness of the CoP

process and professional identity formation.

This chapter describes and explains the study’s qualitative case study and action research

methodology. I explain how the case is defined and bounded, including the research site and

participants, before discussing the data collection tools and procedures, and data analysis. My

role as an insider researcher, CoP participant, and EFL teacher colleague, and the issues of

trustworthiness are also addressed.

3.2 Qualitative research

Qualitative research is used to explore the inner experiences of participants, how meanings are

formed and transformed, areas not yet thoroughly researched, discover relevant variables that

later can be tested through quantitative forms of research, and take a holistic and comprehensive

approach to the study of phenomena (Corbin & Strauss, 2015).

The worldview that I brought to this study guided the methodology and the research

design. The theoretical frameworks of social constructionism and social constructivism indicate

my stance on the socially constructed nature of knowledge and the social process of learning

and knowing. In order to understand a community of practice as a model of PD that uses a

process of social constructivism where EFL teachers interact and construct understandings

about their practice together, a qualitative methodology was most appropriate. It enabled me to

explore the influence of a CoP on participants’ professional identities through the participants’

“actions, non-observable as well as observable phenomena, attitudes, intentions, and

59
behaviours” (Cohen et al., 2011, p. 219). Furthermore, I was interested in the participants’

perspectives of the CoP and its influence on their practices. The adoption of qualitative research

methods enabled me to gain an in-depth and detailed understanding of the phenomenon and to

provide rich descriptions (Cohen et al., 2011; Creswell, 2014) of the CoP process and EFL

teachers’ professional identities.

Marshall and Rossman (2016) identified five characteristics of qualitative research. My

study meets these characteristics as described below:

1. The study occurred in a natural setting at the site where the participants worked and engaged

in the CoP group.

2. Multiple data sources were used rather than relying on a single data source. This included

pre-and post-CoP semi-structured interviews, audio recordings of CoP meetings, reflective

writing journals by participants, and artefacts from CoP meetings.

3. Qualitative studies are context-focused is considered. The CoP, on which this study

focused, was implemented at my own workplace, a Vietnamese university. This enabled

me to have a clear understanding of the contextual features and influences on the

participants’ experiences.

4. An “emergent” research design, which indicates that the design can evolve during the

research process rather than being “tightly prefigured” is a further characteristic of

qualitative research (Marshall & Rossman, 2016, p. 3). I adopted Lave and Wenger’s (1991)

and Wenger’s (1998) CoP as an approach to PD of EFL teachers in Vietnam; however, it

was clear to me that the process would need to be flexible and negotiated with my EFL

colleagues. I was committed to a design that was based on voluntary participation,

commitment, and internal motivation.

5. Qualitative research is fundamentally interpretive in that the researcher is interested in

understanding how the participants experience and interact with their social world as well

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 as how they make meaning of their experiences. I wanted to understand my colleague-

participants’ experience of a CoP and how it contributed to their professional identities.

While I was conducting this study, I kept in mind the assumptions about teachers' participation

and experience in PD as well as their PI (see section 2.2.5 – Chapter 2). However, I did not

know in advance how they might respond to the CoP thus, I was more inclined to explore “all

possible social variables” (Holliday, 2007, p. 5) associated with the CoP process and its

influence on teacher PI. Through the multiple data collection tools which are described in detail

below, I could “get at complex layers of meaning from research texts or visual data; interpret

human behaviour and experiences beyond their surface appearances, provide vivid,

illuminative, and substantive evidence of such behaviour and experiences” (Cousin, 2009, p.

31).

3.3 Case study

Case studies are extensively employed by qualitative researchers and fit well within the social

constructionism paradigm upon which this research is founded. Three primary reasons

prompted the use of the case study as a research method of this study.

Firstly, my choice to use a case study approach was determined by the research

questions. As explained in Chapter 1, in order to investigate the process of the CoP as a PD

model and its influence on EFL teachers’ professional identities and practices within the

Vietnamese context, this study sought answers to numerous “how” questions, such as “How

does participation in a community of practice influence the professional identities of a group

of Vietnamese EFL teachers?”, “How does involvement/ participation in a community of

practice change EFL teachers’ professional practice?”, and “How does involvement in a

community of practice influence individual EFL teachers’ professional identity?”. As Yin

(2014) suggested, How research questions lend themselves the use of case study as the preferred

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research method since they “seek to explain present circumstance” (p.4) of the CoP and PI in

the Vietnamese context over which the researcher has little or no control.

Secondly, uncovering the CoP process and making sense of the dynamic complexity of

EFL teachers’ PI construction through their participation in the CoP in the context of Vietnam

requires rich and in-depth data. Dornyei (2007) asserted that case study is “an excellent method

for obtaining a thick description of a complex social issue embedded within a cultural context.

It offers rich and in-depth insight that no other method can yield, allowing researchers to

examine how an intricate set of circumstances come together and interact in shaping the social

world around us” (p.155). Thus, this study is a good fit for the case study approach.

Thirdly, as stated many times in this thesis, I sought to investigate the CoP as a process

of professional development for EFL teachers in Vietnam. I am interested in the “process rather

than outcomes, in context rather than a specific variable, in discovery rather than confirmation.

Insights gleaned from case studies can directly influence policy, practice, and future research”

(Merriam, 2001, p. 19). Based on these considerations, adopting a case study research method

seemed the most suitable approach to address the research aim and research questions. Through

the case study approach, I was able to depict a complex, dynamic, and unfolding picture of the

EFL teachers’ PI and the CoP within the context of Vietnam.

A major limitation of the case study method is the difficulty of generalising findings to

large populations. It may lack rigour (Yin, 2014) and may tend towards “oversimplification or

exaggeration” (Guba & Lincoln, 1981, p. 377). Stake (1995, 2005) contends, however, that the

case study’s emphasis should be on particularism or uniqueness, not generalisation, and that

readers can learn vicariously through the case’s narrative description. Therefore, I did not

consider the limitation related to generalisation issues as a drawback. Rather, by providing thick

and detailed descriptions about the CoP model, its implementation process, as well as the

process by which the teacher participants constructed their PI, I was able to delve deeply into

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how the CoP worked, how the participants interacted and learned in a CoP, how they negotiated

and (re)constructed their professional identity and how they reflected on their teaching practice

before, during, and after their CoP participation.

3.4 Defining the case

In case study research, the case is a specific, bounded system such as an individual, event,

group, programme, intervention, or community (R. B. Johnson & Christensen, 2014; Merriam,

2001; Stake, 1995). Each case is similar and unique to others in many ways, thus it is necessary

to define the case boundaries (Stake, 1995, 2005). The case in this study is the CoP as a PD

model for EFL teachers that I conducted with my colleagues. The case is defined by Cousin’s

(2009) four dimensions. They include physical borders (a Vietnamese university), population

(eight tertiary EFL teachers), activities (8 PD meetings), and time span (6 months of the 2018-

2019 academic year). All these dimensions establish the case’s boundaries for this study.

Stake (1995, 2005) distinguished three types of case studies: intrinsic, instrumental, and

collective. An intrinsic case study is used when the research focuses on one particular case and

ignores other cases or general issues. A collective case study or multiple case study (R. B.

Johnson & Christensen, 2014; Stake, 2005; Yin, 2014) is one in which a researcher is interested

in exploring several instances of a phenomenon to acquire a deeper knowledge or insight into

a research issue. An instrumental case study is employed when “we have a research question,

a puzzlement, a need for general understanding, and feel that we may get insight into the

question by studying a particular case” (Stake, 1995, p. 3) and when the researcher studies the

case to learn about something more general (R. B. Johnson & Christensen, 2008). My study

focuses on CoP as a form of PD that provided the context for examining EFL teachers’

professional identities. The particular case of the CoP enabled investigation of teachers’

professional identities. Thus, this is an instrumental case study.

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3.5 Research process design

The qualitative case study provided the methodological framework for my study. However, the

approach used for the case study can best be described as action research.

Action research (AR) is “a process of systematic reflection, enquiry and action carried

out by individuals about their own professional practice” (Frost, 2002, p. 25). It is an approach

commonly used by practitioners to examine and ultimately improve their pedagogy and

practice. AR enables the practitioners to evolve personally and professionally through

deliberate actions. Johnson (2008) argues that AR is possibly “the most efficient and effective

way to address the professional development of teachers” (p.44). Hui and Grossman (2008)

similarly advocate that the benefits of AR significantly outweigh the drawbacks in the context

of a collaborative approach to improving teaching and learning. AR enables teachers to make

connections between theory and practice, to be more reflective in their practice, and to develop

into empowered risk-takers, to study their own classrooms—for example, their own

instructional methods, their own students, and their own assessments—in order to better

understand them and to be able to improve their quality or effectiveness (Mertler, 2017)

AR is ontologically, epistemologically, and methodologically compatible with the CoP.

Firstly, AR is concerned with the way we act in relation to others, which means that interaction

and mutual impact are part of the AR process (Ampartzaki et al., 2013) . Similarly, the success

of a CoP is contingent on a variety of interpersonal factors such as collegiality, trust, mutual

respect, and sense of belonging (Wenger et al., 2002), all of which are also critical for AR’s

success (Ampartzaki et al., 2013). Secondly, in terms of epistemology - the way we understand

knowledge and learning - both AR and CoP assume that knowledge is socially constructed

through collaborations, not static or fixed. Thirdly, both AR and CoP require collaboration with

others. The approach taken in AR is not hierarchical; rather all people involved are equal

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participants contributing to the enquiry (Zuber-Skerritt, 2001). Similarly, mutual engagement

or collaboration is considered the defining characteristic of the CoP (Wenger, 1998).

There are numerous models for how the AR process takes shape and each model such

processes as planning a change, taking action to enact the change, observing the process and

consequences of the change, reflecting on the process and consequences, acting, observing, and

reflecting again (Clark et al., 2020). The spiral model of AR proposed by Kemmis et al. (2014)

informed the action research process in my study. Kemmis et al. (2014) described the process

of AR as a spiral of self-reflective cycles that include the following:

- planning a change

- acting and observing the process and consequences of the change

- reflecting on these processes and consequences, and then

- re-planning

- acting and observing,

- reflecting, and so on …

Figure 3. 1:

The Action Research Spiral by Kemmis, McTaggart, and Nixon (2014)

This spiral model emphasises the cyclical nature of the process, which moves beyond

the initial plan for change. It also promotes continuously revisiting and updating the plan in

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light of the cycles of action. Kemmis et al. (2014) noted that action research is rarely as neat as

this spiral of self-contained cycles of planning, acting and observing, and reflecting. The stages

overlap, and initial plans quickly become obsolete as a result of learning from experience. My

initial plan for the CoP evolved as I collaborated with the participants in the fieldwork, as we

jointly set up and organised the CoP. The CoP process in my study was fluid, open, and

responsive as Kemmis et al. (2014) suggested. There are three layers to the AR approach

adopted in my research, namely the macro, meso, and micro levels, as illustrated in Figure 3.2

below. AR was integrated into every layer of the research process as the CoP group moved

through cycles of reflecting, planning, acting, and evaluating. The diagram below illustrates

this.

Figure 3. 2:

Research Process Design Adapted from the AR Model by Kemmis, McTaggart, and Nixon

(2014)

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 At the macro level, I asked myself questions as an action researcher: “What am I doing?

Do I need to improve anything? If so, what? How do I improve it? Why should I improve it?”

(McNiff & Whitehead, 2011, p. 7). While I was asking questions, I reviewed, reflected on, and

critically considered my own teaching situation as a basis for understanding current issues

related to PD for EFL teachers. I contended that by utilising the CoP as a collaborative and

“bottom-up” model, I could address the issues with which I was struggling as an EFL teacher.

I was also able to determine whether the CoP as a PD model worked in my own context. This

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thesis is part of the action research process, in which I conducted fieldwork (act), collected

data, analysed, synthesised, and evaluated whether the CoP was effective in Vietnam.

McNiff and Whitehead (2011) further asserted that anyone can do action research and

that it does not need any specialised equipment or knowledge. All that is required is a person’s

curiosity, creativity, and willingness to engage. Thus, the AR process perfectly suited my

situation. In this AR process, I was an insider researcher and part of the context that I was

investigating. AR allowed me to have “natural access” to the research site (Darmon, 2018, p.

1741). My position as a teacher at my university enabled me to gather more information than

external researchers could, including even some sensitive and confidential information that

teachers would like to protect from outsiders such as teaching loads, material sharing, or other

hidden stories (e.g., teachers’ weaknesses, misassumptions, or fear).

At the meso level, I collaborated with my colleagues in the CoP. We discussed the issues

we faced, selected the topics for CoP meetings, and scheduled meeting time, place, and

facilitators. I played the role as a teacher participant with the same status as my colleague

participants. AR thus enabled us to speak to each other as “we” and foster a collaborative

environment among us. AR perfectly matched as this research was done by and for the teachers;

it was not imposed on them (P. A. Johnson, 2008); and it offered a way that we could

investigate together issues that were “puzzling, troubling and/or sensitive to them through a

solution-oriented approach” (Cousin, 2009, p. 149). One important aspect of AR is that it

advances the notion of teacher empowerment (Mertler, 2017) and “blurs the distinctions

between the researcher and participants, creating a democratic inquiry process” (Marshall &

Rossman, 2016). The CoP in my study was designed to empower the participants to take an

active role in their own professional development.

The micro level is concerned with the process of individual CoP meetings or the process

that each individual participant undertook while taking part in the CoP. After each CoP meeting

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participants reflected upon and evaluated its implementation in relation to time, topics, and

facilitators in order to ensure that our following meetings would be more effective and

successful. Similarly, each teacher participant also enacted the action research cycle in relation

to on his/her own teaching context, by applying what he/she learned from CoP in the classroom,

evaluating the application and its effectiveness.

3.6 Research site

The data collection for this study took place at a reputable Vietnamese public university which

has always strived to deliver high-quality education, especially in light of Vietnam’s

educational reforms and industrialisation, urbanisation, and global integration. Although

students are not the subject of this study, they were an important topic of discussion during the

CoP. I begin this section by providing some background information about the students.

The university in which the study was conducted (henceforth referred to as “the

university”) offers a range of programmes with varying English language proficiency

requirements. Students who pass the university entrance exam are admitted to the university’s

mainstream programmes. They come from a variety of provinces in Vietnam and have varying

levels of English proficiency. Those who gain higher marks than the MOET’s standard mark

for the university entrance exam and meet the university’s minimum mark base are eligible to

enrol in advanced programmes or high-quality programmes. Students in these programmes

study their majors in English, which matches the current EMI trend (see section 1.3 – Chapter

1). Despite paying a higher tuition fee than a mainstream programme, these programmes are

favoured by students and parents and are one of the university’s strategies. Students in such

programmes are carefully selected and must meet English test content that corresponds to level

B1 of Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). According to the government,

students should aim for a B1 level of English upon graduation from college/university (Project

2020). In this way, English language proficiency requirements for students enrolled in these

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programmes are significantly higher, as they are entering their first year of university. Students

enrolled in Vietnamese language based mainstream programmes also take an English

proficiency test, but the purpose of the test is to place them in classrooms suitable for their

English levels.

EFL teachers are classified into two main departments – English-major and non-English

major. The former is supposed to teach English majors and students enrolled in advanced

programmes, whilst the latter are expected to teach non-English majors and students enrolled

in high-quality Vietnamese-language based programmes. EFL teachers frequently cover a

range of English subjects such as General English, Business English, English for Specific

Purposes, and separate English skills. They employ a wide range of English textbooks and

teaching materials to meet the requirements of various programmes. EFL teachers are often

selected by the Dean or Head based on their experience, qualification, and teaching approaches,

to teach English to students enrolled in high-quality programmes where teachers are

compensated better due to students’ higher tuition fee payment, where students have higher

English level requirements, and where there are more favourable conditions such as small class

size, modern facilities, infrastructure, equipment, and internet access. It should be noted that

because such programmes place a premium on high-quality teaching and learning, students’

voices and evaluations on teachers are taken into account, which may affect teachers’ prestige

and image. This contextual information is relevant to understand some of the factors that impact

EFL teachers work and attitudes towards professional development.

3.7 Research participants

This section details the process of recruiting the participants for this study and provides

background information about them.

After receiving permission to conduct the research from the Principal of the university (see

Appendix A), the Dean of the Foreign Language Faculty (see Appendix B), as well as oral

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approval from the Head of the Non-English Major Department, I wrote a recruitment message

and posted it on the Department’s Viber chat group. This group included 40 department staff,

of whom there were 38 EFL teachers and 2 admin staff. The invitation message highlighted

main points of the project and the benefits of participation including free meals, gifts, and most

importantly, opportunities for PD. This included the following, which were explained to the

participants:

- Having an opportunity to discuss their own teaching with peers, read about and discuss

new/effective ways to teach, apply what they learn from the programme in their teaching,

and get support for their professional learning.

- Having a chance to understand and develop their skills and efficacy as an EFL teacher.

- Being able to have access to all materials that were shared in the CoP meetings and use

them in their teaching practice.

- Saving time and money to attend a professional development programme as this project

took place at the university location at lunchtime with food provided.

The following criteria were used to choose the participants:

• Colleagues at my university

• Full-time EFL teachers

• Non-native English-speaking teachers

• Teaching non-English major students

• Interested in and willing to attend the CoP project over 6 months.

Many teachers (30) initially texted me to express interest in my project. I then emailed these

potential participants, expressing my gratitude and providing detailed information about the

project and consent forms. I explained that the project would last around six months and that,

if possible, I would need their consistent participation. I reminded them to read the attached

files (see Appendix C and Appendix D) in order to gain a better grasp of the project before

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making a decision. If they remained interested in the project and wanted to learn more about it,

they were invited to attend the initial meeting on 1 November 2018, during which I shared my

project and answered their questions.

After my initial call for participants, it took another month before the CoP with seven

members (eight including myself) was established. While many teachers indicated an interest

in the CoP project, the majority of them let me know that they could not attend after all due to

a huge workload, limited time for PD, the length of the project, or a lack of commitment to the

CoP. Nine potential participants attended the information meeting on 1 November 2018. Five

teachers signed consent forms right after this meeting, two were novice teachers who exhibited

an enthusiasm to learn from more experienced ones. Three were experienced teachers with six,

ten, and thirteen years of experience, respectively. Others said to me that they would like to

think more. Two additional teachers confirmed their involvement and sent me their consent

form a few days later. Finally, I had seven teachers, eight including me, who agreed to

collaborate on a six-month CoP project.

The commitment required for the project resulted in a relatively small group of EFL

teachers agreeing to participate. From my own experience, I understood some of the challenges

that the teacher participants faced if they attended the project. According to the university

policy, each teacher is required to teach 280 periods a year. A year has two main semesters.

Each semester is 15 weeks long. At the time of the study, the teachers were dealing with a

tremendous amount of work. This occurred for two main reasons. Firstly, because new students

enrolled in the university, the teachers were required to teach both new and returning students,

increasing the number of classes they needed to teach. Each teacher’s teaching load for the

semester in question was much greater (double or even triple the hours) than the required

teaching load (280 periods) each year (see Appendix I). The growth and expansion of

programmes, with increased enrolment, required teachers to teach as much as possible.

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Secondly, teachers were motivated to take on more teaching for financial reasons. If teachers

only teach the required load, they receive a fixed monthly wage – which is relatively low in

comparison to living standards and living costs in the capital city of Hanoi. This meant they

could barely sustain themselves, let alone their family. Along with teaching at the university,

some teachers taught extra classes at English centres where the pay was typically better than at

the university. these factors impacted their decision to participate in the CoP project, as well as

their commitment to the CoP group, since they had to compromise their time, finance, and

teaching load for PD time in the CoP.

Only those who were really interested in improving their practice volunteered as the

time requirement would likely put a strain on them due to increased workload. Seven EFL

teachers joined the study and are described in Table 3.1 below. To maintain confidentiality,

pseudonyms were employed to refer to the recruited participants.

Table 3. 1:

Background of the Teacher Participants

No Teacher Gender Education Teaching Teaching skills

name background experience
1 Nga F Bachelor 4 months Listening, Reading, GE
2 Hai F Bachelor (now 4 months Reading, Writing, GE
attending the
MTESOL course)
3 Khanh M MA 6 years Listening, Writing,
English Tourism, GE
4 Thuy F MA 7 years Speaking, GE
5 Thu F MA >10 years Reading, English
Tourism, GE
6 Hong F MA, MSc >15 years Writing, GE
7 Thi F MA >10 years Speaking, Presentation,
GE

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 Some of the participants had leadership roles, for example, Khanh was the leader of the

listening skills group, Thu the leader of the reading skills group, Hong was the former leader

of the writing skills group, and Thi the leader of listening skills group. All of the teacher

participants taught General English and one or two separate English skills at the time of this

study.

3.8 Research design

The research design included three phases: an initial interview with the participants to explore

how the participants saw themselves as EFL teachers and what experience they had with

previous PD programmes; a series of eight CoP meetings, and a final interview after the CoP

meetings ended. In this section I describe this.

After seven participants signed consent forms to participate in the CoP, I personally

contacted them to arrange the first interview. We scheduled interviews at times and locations

that were convenient for them. Interviews as a data collection tool are discussed in section 3.9.1.

I suggested another meeting at this time for the CoP members to gather, socialise, and

discuss topics for future CoP meetings. In this second setting-up meeting, we got to know each

other and reflect on the teaching problems we faced, such as teaching methodologies or student-

related issues. I took notes on the board, and then we discussed, grouped, and decided on topics

for the upcoming meetings. I emphasised that we would negotiate the topics together as the aim

of CoP discussions was to address topics that were important to them.

We negotiated ground rules for the group to establish a safe, private, and comfortable

environment in which we could work together effectively. Specifically, we agreed that the

meetings should take place during lunchtime on campus with food and drinks provided.

Furthermore, it was decided that the language of communication in meetings should be

Vietnamese while the language used to write reflections could be according to the teachers’

preference and comfort level. No leaders were to attend the meetings. However, we agreed that

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we may ask visitors with expected greater expertise, knowledge, experience, and skills to come

and share their ideas on the topics.

Before each CoP meeting, all group members discussed and agreed on a topic of

discussion. In preparation of the meeting, all group members were to read related articles that

were shared by either me or other group members. Over the course of the data collection period,

we worked together to find and share materials. On Viber, I would encourage the participants

to raise specific questions or teaching problems related to topics so that the CoP discussion

could focus on their concerns. During the CoP meetings, we would share our teaching stories,

knowledge, materials, ask and answer questions, and support each other. At the end of each

meeting, we reflected by writing a journal. I took the responsibility for sending the participants

reading materials, meeting summaries, and arranged meeting locations and lunch. Additionally,

I served as the facilitator for the two first CoP meetings. However, for other meetings other

participants took on facilitation and shared responsibility for managing the meeting. The

meetings were not recorded, but I wrote about them as an artefact for my study.

The timeline of the events related to the data collection process was shown in Table 3.2.

Table 3. 2:

Timeline of the Events Before, During, and After the CoP Meetings

Date Content
15/10/2018 Met and got the consent to conduct the research from the principal of the
university.
18/10/2018 Met and got the consent to conduct the research from the dean of Foreign
Language Faculty of the university.
22/10/2018 - Had a talk with the Head and got consent to conduct my project at the non-
English major Department
- Wrote a recruitment message on post on the Department’s Viber group
- Sent information sheet and the consent to those who were interested in the
project.
1/11/2018 Initial meeting at 11:30 am-12:45 pm

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 - Shared information about the project (the purpose of the project, the principles
of the CoP, the benefits of the CoP members, and the roles of the CoP
members and the right to withdraw the project) to make sure that the
participants fully understand the project.
- Answered the questions from the participants
3-4/11/2018 Participants confirmed their participation

8- 20/11/2018 Conducted 7 semi-structured interviews before the CoP meetings started.

23/11/2018 Second meeting at 11:00 am-12:30 pm

- Built up rapport and set up the community among the participants.
- Reflected about difficulties and challenges we have faced with in terms of our
teaching profession, teaching methodologies under education reform policy,
and student-related issues.
- Agreed on topics for eight CoP meetings as follows
1. How to deal with students who behave or perform badly in class and how
to challenge really good students in mixed class.
2. The art of giving feedback and correction to students
3. Communication between teachers and students
4. Thinking about EFL teachers' teaching hours and teaching age in relation
to their teaching motivation
5. How to understand students better
- Set the ground rules (time, location, language in CoP meetings)
30/11/2018 – 8 CoP meetings
26/1/2019
28/1/2019 – Conducted 7 semi-structured interviews after the CoP meetings finished.
15/2/2019
20/5/2019 – Follow-up questions
30/5/2019

After the ground rules were set, we started organising regular CoP meetings (see Table

3.3). In the first and second CoP meetings, I played the facilitator role, warming up the

participants, fostering a collaborative environment in which we shared, reflected on our own

relevant situations, presented the topic, and led the topic discussion. I also summarised the
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reading materials on the topics that I previously sent via email or Viber group. The reading

materials for the meetings were selected from English language teaching book chapters, journal

articles, and online resources. All materials contributed by the participants as well as online

resources supporting EFL teaching were uploaded to Google Drive that we were able to access

easily. I volunteered for this job because I understood that the teacher participants needed time

to observe and become acquainted with CoP meeting procedures. I negotiated and adjusted the

meetings as I went in line with the ethos of an AR approach.

Different teacher participants took turns facilitating the meetings, based on their

strengths, experiences, interests, and willingness. What all of our CoP meetings had in common

was that we always encouraged each other to share information about teaching practice and

teaching experiences. The meetings ran quite smoothly owing to the participants’ active

participation.

At the end of each meeting, we spent 20 minutes writing reflective journals about what

we learned during the CoP, what we wanted to learn more about for the next CoP, what we

might apply in our teaching practice, and how we felt about that day’s meeting. The reflections

for the two first CoP meetings had to be written at home due to time constraints, but we then

decided to do it during group time because everyone already had too much work to complete

at university and at home. I collected the reflections and used them for data analysis.

Table 3. 3:

The Schedule of CoP Meetings

Date CoP Duration of Topic addressed Extra

the CoP information

meeting

30/11/2018 CoP 1 11:30 – 1pm How to deal with difficult students with Guest visitor

disruptive behaviours

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 12/12/2018 CoP 2 11:30 – 1pm The art of giving feedback and correction

to students

21/12/ 2018 CoP 3 11-1pm Writing skills – Feedback in writing

28/12/2018 CoP 4 11-1pm Speaking skills

4/1/2019 CoP 5 11-1pm Speaking skills (cont.)

11/1/2019 CoP 6 11-1pm Marking in writing and speaking skills

19/1/2019 CoP 7 11-1pm Reading skills – Games and activities

26/1/2019 CoP 8 10-1pm Listening skills - Games and activities

Wrap-up

After eight CoP meetings, I conducted the post-semi-structured interviews (see Table

3.2). The interview had two parts. Part one explored the participants’ changes in their

professional identity and part one collected their opinions about the CoP meetings. The

participants could answer the questions for part two about the CoP itself, however, for part one,

some of them said they needed more time to apply what they discussed, gained, and learned

from the meetings. The CoP ended at the same time they completed their teaching classes

according to the syllabus. The participants did not answer all questions. Six months later since

the project launch or around four months since the last CoP meeting and the teacher participants

nearly finished new their semester, I conducted the follow-up questions. I interviewed those

who did not answer initially and asked other participants who completed their post-interview

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if they added some extra information. All happily filled up their unanswered questions during

the post-interview and added more ideas

3.9 Data collection tools

This section discusses why interviews, reflective writing journals, CoP recordings, and artefacts

were used to collect data for this study as well as how these tools were used and any challenges

that arose.

According to Duff (2008), data collection needs to be matched with the research aims.

Using interviews, recordings, artefacts, and reflective writing provided rich descriptions of the

CoP group meetings and teachers’ PI. Another benefit of using various data collection methods

is that, according to Yin (2014) and Merriam (2001), it enables the process of triangulation.

This means that the different data sets can serve to confirm, validate, and cross-check findings.

In other words, this process involves combining different methods to highlight different

dimensions of the phenomena, to compensate for the shortcomings of each method. This

accordingly contributes to sustaining and maximising the major strength of qualitative case

study research. Triangulation thus serves to establishes the trustworthiness of the evidence and

ensures the quality of the case study research (Yin, 2014). In the following section, I will

discuss individual tools in detail.

3.9.1 Semi-structured interviews

Qualitative researchers rely quite extensively on in-depth interviews (Marshall & Rossman,

2016) because interview data yields deep and rich information about participant attitudes,

thoughts, and actions (McMillan, 2008). Merriam (1998) pointed out that “interviewing is

necessary when we cannot observe behaviour, feelings, or how people interpret the world

around them” (p.72). This study seeks in-depth and detailed descriptions about the CoP process

as well as EFL teachers’ PI formation through their thoughts, feelings, actions, and experiences

in the CoP and in their teaching. That is why interviews were an important tool of data

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collection. In some situations, information gained from interviews confirm emerging findings

from other methods such as observation and document analysis. In this study, interviews

confirmed the findings from such tools as CoP meeting recordings, reflective journals, and

artefacts. For instance, by asking a question like “Did you enjoy the CoP meetings? Why or

why not? What factors made you enjoy most?” in the interview (see Appendix E), I could have

the participants’ answers confirm what they did in the CoP meetings as well as what they

reflected on in their journals.

Interviews can be described as “a construction site of knowledge” (Kvale, 1996, p. 2),

where two or more individuals discuss a “theme of mutual interest” (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2009,

p. 2). There are three types of interviews: structured, unstructured, and semi-structured.

Structured interviews are based on closed questions and aim to capture precise data;

unstructured interviews are where the researcher guides naturally occurring conversations; and

semi-structured interviews are more carefully “scripted”, with certain questions being asked in

a predetermined order, but with room to respond to the participants and be guided by what is

significant and relevant to them (Marshall & Rossman, 2016, p. 150). Although the distinction

between unstructured and semi-structured is fuzzy, as Gilham (2000) puts it, “expert

interviewers always have a structure, which they use flexibly according to what emerges” (p.3),

semi-structure interviews place a greater emphasis on predetermined areas central to the

research questions (Minichiello et al., 2008). Hammersley and Atkinson (1995) argued that the

goal of semi-structured interviews is to facilitate conversation. This provides respondents more

freedom to speak on their own terms than standardised interviews do. Therefore, semi-

structured interviews were deemed useful for this study because they enabled me to create an

open conversation with the participants in which they felt free to express their thoughts and

ideas in relation to the research focus on EFL teaching and PD, and thus gain insights into their

perspectives on professional identities, teaching practices, and the CoP. In other words, semi-

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structured interviews helped to “develop in-depth accounts of experiences and perceptions with

individuals” (Cousin, 2009, p. 71). In some interviews with the participants, they mentioned

ideas that needed more explanation or further elaboration, and the semi-structured interview

format allowed me to be responsive to changing situations (Merriam, 2001).

Interviewing also has some limitations. Marshall and Rossman (2016) highlighted

several drawbacks. For example, interviews are often “intimate encounters that depend on trust;

building trust is important and a main feature of the interviewer – interviewee relationship”

(p.150-151). However, in some cases, interviewees may be unwilling or uncomfortable to share

all the information that the interviewer wants to explore. They may be unaware of recurring

patterns in their lives. They may be unable to articulate their thoughts. Moreover, the

interviewer may lack skills or be unable to understand and interpret responses to the questions

or various elements of the conversation. There is also a possibility that interviews might be

biased, and participants may give answers to please the interviewer rather than giving genuine

responses. If so, the data could be difficult to analyse (Cohen et al., 2011).

To address these issues, before each interview, I always confirmed again with the

participants that their names would not be disclosed to anyone, and that the entire interview

would be kept confidential and only be used for this research. During the interviews, I tried not

to lead the participants in asking questions. Instead, I created a friendly environment so that the

participants felt comfortable and safe to talk to me. I also avoided jargon and used everyday

language. For example, I did not use the terms “teacher professional identity” as the participants

found it abstract; rather I explained the term in a simple way for them to understand, i.e., the

way they see themselves as a teacher or other people see themselves as a teacher. Through the

process of recruitment and the CoP process I also positioned the participants as co-researchers

to some extent and gave them power within the research process. For example, they decided

the topics for discussion, time, location, and ground rules to make them feel safe and

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comfortable in the CoP. All these things helped build up trust and rapport, so participants were

willing and comfortable to, and discuss and express their thoughts honestly to me.

I collected multiple kinds of data to mitigate the limitations of interviews and to enable

me to triangulate observed patterns across different data sets. Other tools such as CoP meeting

recordings, reflective journals and artefacts were used to overcome the drawbacks and bias

inherent in interviews, a combining and comparing multiple data showing what teachers did

and what they said allowed me to discover the relationships in the phenomena and tensions in

the teachers’ ways of thinking and acting. In this way, I came to understand the difference

between “espoused beliefs – what is said” and “beliefs-in-action-what is done” (M. Borg, 2001,

p. 187).

In this study, I conducted a semi-structured interview with each participant before and

after the CoP project. The interviews before the CoP meetings began were divided into two

parts. The first included questions aimed at eliciting information about teachers’ professional

identity and practice, and the second focused on the participants’ prior PD experiences. The

interviews after the CoP meetings had concluded also had two parts. The first contained

questions that were similar to those of the pre-interview. This allowed me to compare the two

interviews to determine whether there had been any change or transformation in the teachers’

professional identity and practice as a result of their participation in CoP meetings.

The second part was added to elicit the participants’ perspectives on CoP meetings in

line with the aim of the study. These 45–60-minute interviews were conducted in Vietnamese

according to the participants’ preferences. These interviews were conducted using the guide

questions (see Appendix E). However, for each participant, the content of the questions was

slightly adjusted or varied depending on their answers relating to their experiences or ideas.

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 The post-interviews were conducted right after the CoP meetings finished. During these

interviews it emerged that the participants needed more time to apply what they learned from

the CoP in their classrooms. In order to see if there were any changes to their PI and so that

they could answer some of the post-CoP interview questions, follow-up questions were asked

three months after the CoP meetings concluded to obtain additional information about the

influence of the CoP on the participants’ practice. The follow-up questions also clarified any

ambiguities that came from the previously gathered data and assessed the sustainability of the

CoP as a form of PD. The participants were informed that the results of the interview would be

made available via email for individual participants to check the accuracy and correct

interpretation.

3.9.2 Guided reflective journals

According to McDonough and McDonough (1997), writing itself is a way of structuring,

formulating, and reacting to experiences. The reflective journals used for this research had the

potential for generating valuable data as they allowed the participants to go deeply into ideas

that they may not have opportunities to express in the CoP meetings. These reflections also

enabled them to think retrospectively about their professional identity as EFL teachers, their

experiences, and their teaching practices. In the fieldwork, I played multiple roles other than a

researcher, such as an active participant and a facilitator, which meant that I could not observe

or gather data during CoP meetings. The reflective journals provided data that gave insights I

was unable to collect in other ways.

The reflective journal writing happened at the end of each CoP meeting. I used a form

in which the participants were asked to reflect on what they did in the CoP meetings, what they

learned and would like to learn, how they felt about each meeting, and what they would apply

in their teaching context (see Appendix F). We used the last 20 minutes of the meeting to do

this writing. Some wrote in English and others in Vietnamese. In the beginning, the participants

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reflected in pairs or groups of three. However, after the second CoP meeting, the participants

proposed changing the type of reflection. They preferred writing reflections individually.

The participants’ narratives in the guided reflective journals provided me with a better

and deeper understanding of what happened in CoP meetings. From that, I saw how their

professional identities as well as their professional practice changed in response to their

participation in the CoP activities. From their reflections, I could also identify engagement,

collaboration, and sharing in the CoP.

My self-reflection

Writing my own reflections was also meaningful to me. According to Marshall and Rossman

(2016), personal reflections are integral to the emerging analysis of a cultural group because

they provide the researcher with new vantage points and with opportunities to make the strange

familiar and the familiar strange” (p.145). Bogdan and Biklen (2007) recommended that

researchers’ reflections can be useful for theoretical, methodological, and substantive issues

raised throughout the research process as beginning researchers do not spend enough time

speculating about the ideas they generate. To maximise these benefits of reflections as well as

mitigate the potential limitation, I kept a detailed reflective journal throughout the study. I

recorded my own perceptions, assumptions, description of what I observed, and concerns about

the reactions of the participants during data collection.

In the beginning, my writing was like scribbles or “jotting” which I used to indicate the

on-the-spot notes. Jottings are described as “a brief written record of events and impressions

captured in key words and phrases” (Emerson et al., 2011, p. 29). These were then elaborated

into a journal book to be useful for subsequent analysis. I thought that my reflective journal

helped me see my bias as well as gave me ideas to sort out problems raised throughout the

research process. For example, my bias was that the CoP was a good model, and there were not

any negative things with this model. While consistently writing did not guarantee I would

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understand all of my biases, I believed that it would facilitate the process better than if I had

not employed this strategy. The journal also provided the base from which I could generate

additional questions in the post-interviews or made some changes in the CoP meetings.

Sometimes, I also turned to the journal when I was unsure of a situation. For example, when I

read the participants’ reflective journals and found that in their opinions, the meeting of that

day was not successful. I read my notes, observations, and feelings in my reflective journal to

understand the situation and tried to find the solution. In these entries, I often wrote exactly

how I felt about situations and then used my writing to reflect more rationally on possible

explanations for the situation. By using that process, I was able to separate my personal

reactions from my analysis. I found that I was able to proceed with improved clarity and

solutions for situations compared to issues that I did not capture in the journal.

3.9.3 Artefact collection

Artefacts are defined as “objects that participants use in the everyday activity of the contexts

under examination” (Hatch, 2002, p. 117) and material manifestations of cultural beliefs and

behaviours (LeCompte et al., 1993). According to Yin (2014), an artefact can be a technological

device, a tool or instrument, a work of art, or some other physical evidence. Yin (2014) claimed

that when relevant, artefacts can be an important component in the overall case. According to

Marshall and Rossman (2016), probably the greatest advantage of using artefacts is that it does

not disrupt ongoing events; these materials can be gathered “without disturbing the setting”

(p.166).

In this study, artefacts included messages, notes, summary notes, books, materials,

stories, and other handouts shared by the participants before, during, and after the CoP

meetings, in the interviews, and on our Viber group (see Appendix H). The collection of

artefacts helped me to investigate the teachers’ perspective, development, and changes through

the accounts of their individual practice and their interactions within the CoP. For example, the

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artefacts of summary notes after each CoP meeting acted as references for the participants to

review and reflect on their involvement in the CoP, the artefacts of books and materials

provided a record of their sharing during the CoP, and the artefacts of Viber messages showed

the evolution of the community over time. We brought students’ products (e.g., writing pieces

or presentation slides) to share and discuss in the CoP which showed that the CoP was relevant

to our teaching, met our needs, and offered us hands-on resources that we could apply in our

classrooms.

All these artefacts supported data analysis from other data collection tools and resources

such as reflective journals or interviews and thus ensured triangulation of data. By examining

these artefacts, I was thus able to develop a broader perspective concerning the CoP process

and EFL teachers’ shift in PI, far beyond what could have been directly observed during the

CoP meetings.

3.9.4 Audio recordings of the CoP meetings

The CoP audio recordings were a further important data source to help me understand, how the

teachers participated in the CoP meetings, what they said, discussed, and contributed to the

CoP. In this study, the CoP audio recordings were transcribed verbatim, regardless of how

intelligible the transcript was when it was read back. Once the transcription was complete, I

read it while listening to the recording and correcting any errors; inserting notations for pauses,

laughter; inserting punctuation, and including any other contextual information that might have

affected the participant (based on my notes and reflections). Dealing with multiple voices, I

identified each voice to the pseudonym names of the participants.

3.10 Data Analysis

As described in Chapter 2, this study adopts a social constructionism paradigm, in which

discourses (ways of representing the world) shape us as persons; where we are the subjects of

various discourses, and our identity is understood in terms of the positions open to us within

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these discourses. A discourse-based approach disrupts taken-for-granted, common-sense

understandings and beliefs, to open up for further questioning the “obvious, natural, given or

unquestionable” (MacLure, 2003, p. 9). This study focuses on the negotiation of EFL teachers’

professional identities before, during, and after their participation in CoP based PD. Discourse

analysis, i.e. the analysis of texts of all kinds to reveal the discourses operating within them

(Burr, 2003), fits well within the social constructionism frame where this study is situated and

aligns with the study’s research questions. In this section, I will describe how I used discourse

analysis to analyse my data.

My data consisted of audio recordings, semi-structured interviews, the participants'

reflective journals, artefacts, and my self-reflections. All data, including interviews, audio, and

reflections, were transcribed by me to ensure that the teachers’ voices were heard in their own

words rather than being heavily filtered through my perspective. However, an interpretive

process is evident throughout the data analysis process, and in the process of transcription itself.

A transcript “constructs a certain version of the talk or interaction which is to be analysed” and

is, therefore, part of the analysis itself” (Taylor, 2001, p. 38). Decisions about what and how to

transcribe are not neutral, they represent the researcher’s interests and should also relate to the

study questions. When selecting how to represent the data in transcripts, I used certain well-

known symbols to add information to the text and convey an understanding of how things were

spoken without making it too difficult to read. I used the following symbols:

... to indicate an untimed pause

[text] to clarify information including non-verbal or extra-verbal behaviour, e.g. [laughs]

To guarantee that the data retained their original meanings, the original Vietnamese

transcripts were used for coding. When coding the data, I read and reread the transcripts many

times and used my own reflections to help identify incidents and quotes that seemed to reveal

discourses and were salient to the construction of PI. I did not follow any planned coding

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processes because I was unsure what would emerge from the data. My analysis was grounded

in the data itself. I revisited each code and translated relevant data from Vietnamese into

English for discussion in the thesis. The issue of the trustworthiness of the translation is

discussed in section 3.11.

In order to manage the volume of data, I created a database using Nvivo 10 software

programme. The database consisted of the transcripts, translations, notes, analysis, and

discourse categories. I entered this data and made analysis notes as I went. It took time to work

out discourse categories and these underwent some changes over time as I rethought some of

the data in the light of further, ongoing reading, and repeated listening to interviews, CoP

recordings, and reading the reflective journals.

The discourse categories that became most salient in the identity work undertaken by

the EFL teachers were Experience, English language proficiency, Confucian teaching, and

constructivist teaching. During the CoP meetings, the participants’ interactions and

collaborations shaped and reshaped their PI as a result of discourse related features such as

power, and agency, and the features of the CoP. Within each discourse category, there was a

range of stories that could be told from the data. Different teachers positioned themselves and

were positioned in different ways at different times. There were overlaps across the discourses,

and when the focus was changed, the same data might be understood differently to create

somewhat different stories. As I structured and restructured discourse categories, I struggled

with where to put different data and how to tell the most authentic story.

During the process of collecting and analysing the data, I was continuously refining my

understanding of the context and events in light of the teachers, the CoP, and my research

questions and interests. I have continued to construct knowledge and understanding from the

data as I wrote this thesis. It has been suggested that the lived experiences of the participants

are, to some extent, created by the researcher in the act of writing about them (Freebody, 2003).

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As Stake (2003) puts it, “researchers cannot help but pass along to readers some of their

personal meanings of events and relationships and fail to pass along others” (146). The social

constructionism frame further suggests that the readers too will reconstruct knowledge and

understanding of the research story in ways that the researcher cannot predict.

Perhaps the most crucial thing to accept and work with under the social constructionism

frame is that the researcher’s representation of events and phenomena is just that – a

representation, and only one among many possible representations. Researchers must take on

the responsibility of legitimating and evaluating their representations carefully in order to

facilitate the establishment of links ”between the text and the world that is being written about”

(Freebody, 2003, p. 79). To me, this means that in telling the stories I think the data most

convincingly evoke, I must incorporate parts of the data itself. It is the best, most honest

representation that I can provide based on my presence at the time the data were recorded and

subsequent reviews of content. I believe that revisiting data on several occasions and multiple

times enabled me to view situations differently, to find different possibilities that were not

apparent on previous occasions. Reading the data in a variety of ways has also been helpful. In

the end, I chose to present the data in the way of before, during, and after the CoP so that I

could emphasise any development in the teacher PI and see if the CoP process shifted it or not.

3.11 Trustworthiness

To ensure trustworthiness of this study, some strategies, techniques, and procedures that are

common to qualitative research were taken into consideration. This section discusses

trustworthiness of this qualitative study based on strategies identified by Creswell and Creswell

(2018).

Rich and thick description

The trustworthiness of the findings in this study was enhanced through a rich and thick

description of the research setting and clarification of the researcher’s biases brought to the

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study (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). Chapters One and Two in this study provided a detailed

account of EFL teaching and learning, PD for teachers in Vietnam, and PI of Vietnamese EFL

teachers. The research setting has also been clearly described in this chapter. The detailed

description of the research setting helps to “transport the readers to the setting” and the results

thereby “become more realistic and richer” (Creswell & Creswell, 2018, p. 200). The provision

of detailed and thick descriptions was also applied to all other data collection and analysis

approaches used for this study.

Researcher’s bias

In this study, I played the roles of being a participant and an insider researcher. During the

process of the CoP, I was a participant, trying to be active, focusing on CoP activities,

collaborating with other CoP members, and sharing my own experiences to contribute to the

CoP. This position allowed me to understand the CoP implementation process, to obtain

insights into the information provided by the participants, and therefore better interpreted the

information from the participants’ perspectives. Later, when I reflected back on that, I took

more on the researcher role.

As an insider researcher, I was aware that my position might influence the data

collection and analysis because of my deep understanding of the participants’ situations. I

tended to be close to the context or the participants’ experiences so might lose the objectivity

of the data or miss the important things of the data. I acknowledged any potential bias and being

transparent about the research process. To mitigate this threat, I used self-reflection or my own

reflective journal to create an open and honest narrative that will resonate well with readers

(Creswell & Creswell, 2018). I kept a detailed reflective journal throughout the study to take

notes during the research process (specifically, before and during data collection) to record my

own perceptions and assumptions, description of what I observed, and concerns about reactions

of the participants during data collection. I also stepped back to see the data with fresh eyes,

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putting aside what I knew about the context and colleague participants, just looked at the data

and acknowledged that it was difficult to do.

Prolonged time in the field

I spent “prolonged time” (Creswell & Creswell, 2018, p. 201) in the field within the

particularities of the research setting and my research timeline. As explained in the section on

data collection, being present at the research site for around six months enabled me to observe

and engage in CoP meetings as well as arrange the interviews with the teachers more easily.

Dependability

Having peer review in the analysis process, providing a comprehensive description of the

research methods, or implementing a step-by-step repeat of the study to see if results might be

similar or enhance the original findings are some of the strategies used to established

dependability suggested by Thomas and Magilvy (2011). In this study, peer review or

debriefing was applied as I consulted with my supervisors for guidance to avoid

misunderstanding and bias. My bias was that I believed that the CoP was a good model, and

this created a risk that I might not see the negative elements of the CoP because I played the

role as the participant and insider researcher of this study. I tended to be close to the context

and the participants’ experiences so might lose objectivity in the data collection and analysis.

I had many conversations with my supervisors in which they asked me questions that required

me to explain, justify, or elaborate my ideas so that I did not jump to conclusions without

thinking critically. With their help, I could see my bias if it arose, assisting me to avoid it in the

data collection and analysis, and mitigating the risks associated with being a participant and

insider researcher.

Translation

The matter of translation also contributed to the dependability of the findings in this study. The

data were collected in Vietnamese. The CoP meetings and interviews were also conducted in

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Vietnamese and transcribed ad verbatim in this language. In the coding process, Vietnamese

words and phrases of the data were used under the English categories because I, the primary

researcher of this study, am fluent in both languages. Only the quotes identified for inclusion

in the thesis were then translated into English. The reason for using only English quotes was to

avoid the excessive length of the thesis. English quotes went along with the Vietnamese quotes

until the final draft of this thesis was revised. I was aware that translating from one language

into another language is complex and critically important because it can be difficult to capture

the subtleties of language. Another issue involving the translation of primary data is that “when

data have been translated and/or transcribed, they are not raw data anymore – they are

“processed data” (Wengraf, 2001, p. 7). Translation is “the transfer of meaning from a source

language ….to a target language” and a translator is “actually an interpreter who …processes

the vocabulary and grammatical structure of the words while considering the individual

situation and the overall cultural context” (Esposito, 2001, p. 570). Clearly, using another

person, other than the researcher, to transcribe the recorded interviews and using an interpreter

to gather data “complicate the process immeasurably” (Marshall & Rossman, 2016, p. 210). In

this study, the interviews and CoP recordings were conducted in Vietnamese and coded in

Vietnamese first to ensure their original meanings were retained, i.e., to stay close to the

participants’ meanings and to allow for codes. Then I translated parts for my supervisors and

for discussion in the thesis later. As stated in section 3.11, some of the participants used both

Vietnamese and English in their speech. There were places where participants switched

languages and inserted English terms. Where this happened, the English words are put in italics

to distinguish the translated versions.

To ensure the trustworthiness of the translation, I applied the back-translation method

(Brislin, 1970). I consulted a colleague who is a PhD student, not a participant, and is fluent in

both languages. He needed to sign a confidentiality form as well. I gave him the English version

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I translated and asked him to help translate this version back into Vietnamese. We then

compared the language, tone, and voice of the two versions to see if they matched. He suggested

that I change some nuances to better capture the meaning of the interviewees.

Transferability

Transferability, also referred to as generalisability, is “the way in which qualitative studies can

be applicable, or transferable, to broader contexts while still maintaining their context-specific

richness” (Ravitch & Carl, 2016, p. 189). It has been argued that transferability is problematic

in qualitative research (Cohen et al., 2011; Creswell & Creswell, 2018; Gibbs, 2007; Lincoln

& Guba, 1985). However, these authors suggested that it is not the researcher’s task to describe

whether the findings of his or her study are transferable to “individuals, sites or places outside

of those under study…[but to provide] a particular description and themes developed in a

context of a specific site” (Creswell & Creswell, 2018, p. 202). Hence, particularity, not

transferability is “the hallmark of good qualitative research” (Creswell & Creswell, 2018, p.

202).

This study was conducted to investigate the influence of CoP as a model of PD and its

influence on EFL teachers’ PI. The particularities of the CoP at this specific university for a

specific group of teachers were uncovered and are reported in detail in this thesis. I did not

intend to generalise the findings of this study, but my rich and thick description and

interpretation of the data (Chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7) allow for the reader to decide whether the

findings are transferable to other contexts or not.

3.12 Ethical considerations

Ethics are an essential part of rigorous research. According to Davies and Dodd (2002), “ethics

are more than a set of principles or abstract rules that sit as an overarching entity guiding our

research… Ethics exist in our actions and in our ways of doing and practicing our research; we

perceive ethics to be always in progress, never to be taken for granted, flexible, and responsive

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to change” (p.281). Ethics thus reflect my commitment to enhance the quality standards and

professional integrity of my research (Denscombe, 2010; Israel & Hay, 2006). All procedures

of this study strictly adhered to the VUW Ethics Policy and guidelines that aim to protect the

rights of the researcher and the participants. The study received ethical approval from the Ethics

Committee of Victoria University of Wellington (No. 0000026576) (see Appendix G).

Ethics require a focus on matters of relationships – with participants, with stakeholders,

with peers, and with the larger community of discourse (Marshall & Rossman, 2016). For any

inquiry project, ethical research practice is grounded in the moral principles of “respect for

persons, beneficence, and justice” (Marshall & Rossman, 2016, p. 51). Respect for persons

means that the researcher does not use the participants as means to an end and that the

researcher must respect their privacy, their anonymity, and their right to participate – or not –

with their free consent. Beneficence means that the researcher ensures that participants are not

harmed by participating in the study. Justice means considerations of who benefits and who

does not from the study. Of the three moral principles, respect for persons receives the most

attention. In this section, I discuss the issue of respect for the participants.

Since the beginning of my study, I was aware of the importance of establishing trust

with the participants and aimed to respect the rights and interests of those participating in my

study. After having ethics approval from VUW and research permission from university

leaders, I sent the potential participants a typed document (see Appendix C and Appendix D)

outlining the objective, procedures, timing, and ethical considerations including how

confidentiality will be maintained, their right to withdraw, benefits, and approval for their

consent form via email. The potential teacher participants had time to read and considered their

participation in the project. Afterward, I set up a meeting with those who were interested in the

project. I reminded them of voluntary participation in this study. The participants received a

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clear message that they had a right to refuse to participate or to withdraw from the research at

any point without fear of personal or professional damage.

Privacy of participants was carefully considered in this study as Johnson and

Christensen (2014) suggest that “respecting the privacy of research participants is at the heart

of the conduct of ethical research” (p.141). The nature of the CoP meant that participation was

not anonymous, but confidentiality was important, and assured by many ways. Specifically, the

participants were fully informed of the research procedures and related information from the

beginning of the project. As mentioned before, we had two initial arrangement meetings where

the participants were informed all the information about the CoP project; they also had time to

think of attending the project totally based on their needs and interests; they themselves chose

the topics to discuss and set the ground rules to build up a safe place for them to share. Data

were also confidentially sent back to them, and their names were not recorded in their journals,

all the names used are pseudonyms. All the data were stored in a safe place with password

protection.

Informed consent is a benchmark or a central concept in ethical research practice

(Denscombe, 2010; R. B. Johnson & Christensen, 2014). Informed consent refers to the

potential participants’ voluntary agreement to participate in a study after being informed of its

aim, procedures, risks, benefits, and limits of confidentiality (Israel & Hay, 2006; R. B. Johnson

& Christensen, 2014). Informed consent is necessary to ensure that their participation is

voluntary, and they feel comfortable taking part in the study.

As the research process of this study followed the action research process, “democratic

collaboration, co-generation of knowledge, and a commitment to the democratization of human

situations” (Brydon-Miller & Greenwood, 2006, p. 120) became important to the study.

Keeping this philosophy in mind, I always tried to make sure that the participants did not have

ethical concerns. The Vietnamese culture was also taken into account. I understood that

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Vietnamese people often pay attention to the social judgment of their behaviour, so they tend

to express attitudes that they believe will help minimise the risk of losing face (Khuc, 2006).

Losing face happens when individuals feel they are not respected in interactions with others in

the community. The CoP and its ground rules were therefore created to establish a collaborative

and friendly environment and to protect the participants’ face, thereby mitigating the cultural

constraints.

3.13 The researcher’s position

As stated above, it is important to consider the relationship between the researcher and the

research participants, this section briefly describes my position in this study. My role in this

study was as a researcher (designer, interviewer, transcriber, and analyst) and a practitioner

participant.

As a participant, I was a part of the community of teachers who are my colleagues. I

knew them quite well and had good and close relationships with most of them since I began

working at the university more than ten years ago. Like other participants, I am an experienced

teacher of English. During CoP meetings, I was an active participant. I undertook multiple roles

such as the facilitator of the CoP meetings, gaining trust and bonding with participants to form

the community; and as a collaborative partner or co-participant actively involved in CoP

discussions, sharing my own teaching experiences. My roles varied in different meetings. In

the first meetings, I did facilitate and share much. But then, my role changed as other CoP

members became actively involved in the meeting and took up the role of facilitator as well.

They shared what they majored in, what they knew better than others, and what they were

strong at, based on their teaching experience and knowledge they acquired. The position of a

CoP participant allowed me to understand the CoP implementation process, obtain insights into

the information provided by the participants, and therefore better interpret their unique

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perspectives. Then when I began to reflect on and analyse the data, I took on the researcher

role.

As an insider researcher, I was aware that my position might influence the data

collection and analysis because of my deep understanding of the participants’ situations. With

10-years of teaching experience at the university, I acknowledged that this way of “knowing”

is what led me to significant understanding and recognising a good source of data (Stake,

1995).

In contrast with the advantages of being an insider for conducting research, I was

concerned about issues of bias and trustworthiness as bias might limit the ability to develop

diverse perspectives on coding data or developing themes (Creswell & Creswell, 2018).

However, as discussed in sections 3.11 and 3.12, this was mitigated by my sensitivity in

conducting interviews as well as in the CoP meetings, my self-reflection, and through

professional meetings with my supervisors.

Litchman (2010) argues that being involved in the research is highly recommended

rather than trying to be objective. She adds that “an understanding of the other does not come

about without an understanding of the self and how the self and the other connect” (p.224) (the

self is the researcher and the other means those who are studied).

In other roles, I was responsible for designing, interviewing, transcribing, delivering all

the data collection methods, finding, and analysing the results relevant to the research

questions. Moreover, I understood that the results must be reported honestly, truthfully, and

logically and made available to participants for their inquiry. In other words, the participants

were able to access the transcripts of the interviews via email if they request. Otherwise, it was

considered unethical behaviour in research conducting (Burns, 2000).

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3.14 Summary

This chapter discussed the research methodology which was designed specifically for the study

reported in this thesis. The first section presents the rationale as to why a qualitative case study

approach was adopted. It allowed me to explore and interpret the CoP process and changes in

PI and teaching practices of the Vietnamese EFL teacher participants in depth and within its

natural setting. In addition, this chapter has also presented a detailed account of the research

site, participants, as well as the data collection and data analysis procedures that the study

followed. The trustworthiness, ethical considerations, and my position within the research

process were also discussed in this chapter. The findings of the study will be reported in the

next four chapters, Chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7.

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 CHAPTER 4: RENEGOTIATING TEACHER PROFESSIONAL IDENTITIES

THROUGH THE DISCOURSE OF EXPERIENCE

4.1 Introduction

From the data analysis, three discourses have emerged as central to the renegotiation of the

teachers’ professional identities, namely the discourse of experience, the English language

proficiency discourse, and teaching discourses related to Confucian teaching, constructivist

teaching, and institutional teaching requirements. This chapter focuses on the discourse of

experience through which teacher professional identities were negotiated.

The data demonstrated that the discourse of experience was significant in shaping the

teacher participants' professional identities and hence influenced their teaching practices.

Within this discourse, two distinct categories emerged – novice and experienced – that were

closely related to the participants’ ages. In this study, the novice teachers are defined as teachers

who had not yet completed three years of teaching after receiving initial teacher certification,

and these three years can be considered a distinguishable period in the professional

development of teachers (Day et al., 2007). The experienced teachers are those who have more

than three years of teaching. From Table 3.1 – Chapter 3, Nga and Hai are novice teachers;

Hong, Khanh, Thu, Thi, and Thuy are experienced teachers. While both groups of teachers

positioned themselves positively, as novice/enthusiastic and

experienced/knowledgeable/willing to share, they also positioned themselves negatively. The

beginner teachers perceived themselves as being disadvantaged and inferior to the experienced

teachers and perpetuated certain assumptions about themselves and the experienced teachers.

When the experienced teachers observed the novices' activity and enthusiasm, they expressed

some unfavourable sentiments about themselves. This chapter examines the process through

which these teachers' professional identities and practices shifted before, during, and after their

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involvement in the CoP. The analysis will focus on Nga and Hai – two novice teachers – and

Hong – a very experienced teacher.

4.2 Before the CoP

The analysis of the pre–CoP interviews suggested that at this point the teacher participants

positioned themselves within the experience discourse in terms of both advantages and

disadvantages. However, the negatives appeared to outweigh the benefits, resulting in tensions

within their professional identities and challenges with their instructional approaches.

4.2.1 Advantages

Nga and Hai with four months of teaching at the university considered themselves young and

enthusiastic teachers, which brought with it several advantages.

As a young and new teacher, I am brimming with enthusiasm and lesson ideas. I

frequently stay up late preparing for lessons. Because I teach reading and listening

skills, which are receptive skills and appear to be less communicative, I need to create

supplemental activities and materials to keep students engaged in my classroom. [Nga-

Pre-interview]

I frequently spend a significant amount of time...perhaps an entire day...reading,

searching, and preparing for a 50-minute lesson. I am young but rather a perfectionist,

and I take great care when preparing lessons. I create PowerPoint slideshows...that are

visually appealing and professional in appearance to impress students. Additionally, I

develop a variety of communicative exercises for each lesson. I cannot teach exclusively

from textbooks as my lessons will become quite boring and monotonous. That is why I

need to generate numerous ideas for classroom activities. [Hai-Pre-interview]

As the excerpts show, both novice teachers saw their role in classroom preparation similarly.

Thus, they both invested considerable time and effort in this activity, and they infused their

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classes with energy and enthusiasm, making them engaging and conversational to impress

students.

In the pre-interview, Hong positioned herself as an experienced teacher. At the time of

the study, Hong was around 20 years older than Nga and Hai. She had over fifteen years’

experience teaching EFL and thirteen years of working as an EFL teacher at the university. She

also attended plenty of PD courses both in her home country and abroad. Moreover, she had

two master’s degrees, one in English Language Teaching qualifying her as an EFL teacher, and

another in Finance and Banking offering her opportunities to teach this subject in English to

English-major students of the faculty. She was currently a PhD student as well. Therefore, it

was understandable for her positioning. She stated:

At my age...at my old age... I believe I am very experienced. As a result, I am frequently

adaptable in classrooms. I don’t rely heavily on textbooks in my teaching. I frequently

create supplementary materials to keep students engaged in their studies. Additionally,

I allow students to voice their thoughts freely and respect their learning methods. As

I’ve learned that each person’s learning style is unique, I don’t put students under any

learning pressure. [Hong-Pre-interview]

In this interview, Hong explicitly commented that she was a “very experienced teacher”. By

describing a series of classroom activities that she usually engages in, such as focusing on

students, adapting materials to students’ needs and styles, avoiding excessive pressure on

students, and avoiding excessive reliance on textbooks, Hong demonstrated how experienced

and knowledgeable she was. She also highlighted how well she can manage a classroom and

form relationships with students. Her confidence thus seems to stem from years of service and

a wealth of knowledge about context, pedagogy, and students.

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This positioning appeared to have contributed to Hong’s desire to share her knowledge with

others. Thus, she stated:

At this point in my life, I feel comfortable sharing teaching ideas, experiences, and

resources with colleagues. This is totally different from the past…Except for one or two

very close colleague friends, I never exchanged or shared materials with other teachers

[Hong-Pre-interview]

Hong continued to explain the attitude among teachers around sharing:

I think one of the most important things that makes English lessons and EFL teachers

successful is materials. New, unique, and interesting teaching materials motivate

students to learn and make them curious. Otherwise, students can self-study at home,

and not need to go to class or learn with teachers. I thought if I share these materials

with other teachers, they will reuse them in their classrooms. You know the result, right?

The materials are not unique or attractive anymore. Moreover, to have such materials

must take me so much time to create and design…In Vietnam, there is no sharing culture

among teachers. People tend to prefer “ăn sẵn” - something available and free for them

to use and apply in their own contexts rather than spending time working with each

other to have it. I think the primary problem is probably that people don’t have time.

However, since I have attended plenty of PD programmes and understood issues related

to professional development, now I want to share and am willing to share with other

colleagues. [Hong-Pre-interview]

The data suggest that it was only with time that Hong became more willing to share her

knowledge with others. In the above extract, while positioning others as those who would prefer

to use free things rather than create them, Hong simultaneously positioned herself as the

opposite of that type of person. In other words, unlike others, she worked hard and invested

time and effort to design interesting teaching materials. While Hong claimed the main reason

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why she didn’t want to share her materials before was because of the importance of being able

to offer new resources to students, the effort and time she put into the development of these

materials may also have contributed to her reticence to share. Things changed when she became

more experienced as she learned more knowledge from PD programmes she attended.

4.2.2 Disadvantages

Within the discourse of experience, the novice teachers tended to describe themselves

negatively. Nga repeated many times in the pre-interview that she was young, new to teaching,

and thus inexperienced.

I am young, so lack experience. I find it hard to select teaching materials. If I were

experienced, I would choose materials faster and more effectively. Now I have to search

so many books to find suitable ones and then spend time reading them to understand

and select what is suitable for lessons and students. It takes me ages to plan lessons. I

also need to think of games and activities for every lesson. Sometimes I feel I run out

of ideas for games and activities. However, what challenges me most is that I do not

know how to deal with uncooperative students who have no discipline, tell lies to hang

out, or play truant. I wish I had more experience. [Nga-Pre-interview]

As this excerpt demonstrates, within the experience discourse, Nga positioned herself as an

inexperienced teacher. Her lack of experience caused problems with lesson plans, but students

were the most difficult challenge she faced, and she had no idea for solving problems with

them. She expressed her desire for being an experienced teacher when saying “If I were

experienced…” or “I wish I have more experience”. In her opinion, becoming an experienced

teacher would be the ultimate solution because then she would have no trouble with lesson

preparation and student-related issues anymore. In other words, Nga considered her lack of

experience to be a threat to her teaching practice and her professional identity. This is

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understandable as, at the time of this study, Nga had only four months of teaching experience

at the university without any previous tertiary teaching experience.

Hai did not express her feeling of inexperience as Nga described because she previously

taught at another university for one year before joining the university for four months.

However, Hai shared with Nga that there was a link between their experience and teacher-

student relationships. Both stated that they were just a few years older than their students,

therefore being friendly or close to students was pertinent for building rapport. Nga said she

wanted to use “friendly language” (the language was familiar amongst the youth, spoken and

created by them) to communicate with students. In this way, she would “make students open

and communicative in class, so classroom environments would not be boring” [Nga-Pre-

interview]. As stated above, Nga paid attention to creating a communicative environment in

class even though she was teaching receptive skills. Hai’s friendliness was presented through

the way she remembered “all students’ names of eight classes” she taught this semester. She

proudly and happily said that “students see me as a friendly teacher. They only remember my

name, not other teachers’ names” [Hai-Pre-interview]. It was obvious that both believed that

they need to use the friendliness to help them build rapport with students and facilitate

classroom environments.

However, when it came to class incidents, tensions started to rise:

I knew the way students communicate with each other; I knew their language. But I was

not sure whether using that language to talk to them is appropriate…or suitable for a

teacher. I was afraid when I spoke like that [using students’ language], I was evaluated

as not formal… [Nga-Post-interview]

I am annoyed with the students who have disruptive behaviours in class, but I have no

experience to solve the problem. When I see them behave badly, I often ignore them

and let them do what they want…because … I cannot shout at them or criticise them by

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 asking why this or why that. I am building up the image of a friendly teacher. Thus, I

make myself stressed. [Nga-Pre-interview]

Nga took up the position of a friendly teacher by using informal language to communicate with

students. However, she struggled with other aspects of professional identity such as teacher

image (which should be formal), students’ feedback, or disruptive students. On the one hand,

she wanted to be regarded as a friendly teacher by students. On the other hand, she was not sure

if she behaved and talked properly under the discourse of Confucian culture. Within this

discourse, Vietnamese teachers should be a moral guide in their language, clothes, and

behaviours in class, at school, and in society (see more discussion on Confucian culture in

Chapter 6). She believed that she could not punish students even when they behaved badly to

her as this would undermine her efforts to be friendly. All of these made her professional

identity a site of struggle and negatively affected her self-efficacy.

Like Nga, Hai also expressed that her closeness to students was one of her challenges.

I think it is counterproductive. I am friendly and close to students, but they don’t follow

my instructions. It seems that they don’t make clear the distance between teacher and

students. They think I am a friend of theirs. [Hai-Pre-interview]

On the one hand, Hai wanted to be close to students so that they became open and close to her.

On the other hand, she wanted them to listen to her, to follow her instructions. It seemed that

both believed that students should follow teachers’ instructions as it was a sign of respect. It

seems that under the discourse of the constructivist teaching (see Chapter 6) Nga and Hai were

friendly or close with students in order to boost the CLT method in their classrooms. However,

under the discourse of Confucian teaching (see Chapter 6), Vietnamese teachers might not

accept students’ behaviours. The data show that Confucian teaching discourse in which

students must listen to teachers and respect them at all costs seemed dominant and influenced

the novices a great deal making their professional identity conflicted.

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 When asked about how she solved problems related to students as mentioned above,

Nga responded:

When I feel students get bored or tired, I can guess the reason for their feelings. I don’t

ask them why and I don’t want to ask them why because asking them would make them

feel worse. [Nga-Pre-interview]

Nga’s comments in this excerpt show that she solved her problems with students in isolation,

by herself. She did not ask students why they did not pay attention to her lesson or why they

were tired because she believed that she knew why, and because she felt an affinity with

students. It seemed that Nga, based on her age and her own recent experience as a student,

makes assumptions about students. In her words, she should be responsible for students’

feelings. Farrell (2008) points out that novice teachers put great focus on empathy with their

students. This empathy is nurtured by the confusion of feeling like a student rather than a

professional teacher during the first months or years of teaching in real classrooms. This seems

to apply to Nga.

Hai described her approach to solving student issues: “I will be stricter with them.

However, due to my age, I think I will change (to be stricter) in a few years…when I have a

more mature appearance” [Hai-Pre-interview]. Hai believed that strictness would make

students listen to teachers. She was reluctant to be strict at this stage because she was still

young. She would become strict when she got older. She believed that looking more mature

would help her solve problems with students’ poor behaviours.

Looking older was also a concern for Nga who admitted that:

I often did not answer students’ questions about my age. They try to predict my age, but

I just smile... I often dress in formal clothes to have a more mature or older look. I think

they will listen to and respect me more.

[CoP 3]

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Thus, Nga gets students to respect her by not disclosing her age and dressing formally to project

a mature impression. Nga believed that teachers with an older appearance automatically wield

greater authority over their students and that the perceived age gap establishes a distance

between students and teachers, both of which contribute to students being more respectful of

older teachers. She lacked these attributes due to her youth and hence needed to pretend she

possessed them. Thus, a conflict between the position she took on (young and novice teacher)

and the opposition to it (pretending to be mature and experienced) arose.

Within the novice/experienced discourse, there were multiple positions available to Nga

and Hai, and some conflicted with others or were influenced by the context or other cultural

discourses leading to their multiple and conflicted identities, negative emotions, and struggles

in their classrooms. The novices held some misconceptions including experience/strict with

students, experience/respect from students, and experience/less trouble in teaching and with

students. That was why they either made themselves look older and more mature or waited for

the future with the belief that when they got older, their teaching problems would automatically

disappear. In this way, they seemed not yet to adapt their beliefs and classroom practices in

accordance with student needs (Erkmen, 2014). They needed “opportunities to assess and/or

reflect on their beliefs and practices to become more aware of their beliefs and practices, and

thereby to improve teaching and learning” (Erkmen, 2014, p. 110).The problems Nga and Hai

encountered were in line with empirical studies on novice teachers during their early years of

teaching (Van Lankveld et al., 2017). van Lankveld et al. (2017) pointed out “this phase of

insecurity lasted from one and a half to three years, and sometimes even longer. After two or

three years, being a teacher did become an important part of their identity, either as a second

identity or by replacing their previous identity as a professional in their field” (p. 329).

In Hong’s case, although positioning herself as an experienced and knowledgeable

teacher, she still experienced negative emotions and struggled with her professional identity.

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 I feel that I am old now. I think teaching a language requires the activeness and energy

of a teacher in class. But now I feel tired; I do not want to talk much and do not want to

move around the classroom much. Probably teachers’ energy and mental status are vital

as they are motivators for teachers to go to class. I think teaching English, specifically,

General English (GE) is not suitable for those who get older like me. GE is more suitable

for young teachers while English for Specific Purposes (ESP) or English as a Medium

of Instruction (EMI) is for old teachers who have the advantage of experience. It should

be like that because students’ English proficiency gets better, we should orientate them

towards learning ESP rather than EFL. [Hong-Pre-interview]

I don’t want to teach GE… I want to teach a subject that requires specific expert

knowledge. English just acts as a tool in this subject. I have had a plan of studying

further to prepare for my old age. I will not teach GE anymore, instead, I will teach such

subjects as a research methodology or ESP or EMI. [Hong-Pre-interview]

In the first extract, Hong compared herself with young teachers. Over time, she had developed

negative feelings about the impact of her age on her teaching. She concluded she was not

suitable for teaching GE, and she did not like teaching GE anymore. She preferred teaching

EMI or ESP instead because these courses related to an emerging English teaching and learning

trend in Vietnam (see Chapters 1 and 2 for more information). Vietnamese universities are

mandated to teach discipline content using English as the language of instruction under the

government’s National Foreign Languages 2020 project and Higher Education Reform

Agenda. The aim is to promote international exchange, increase revenue, raise the quality

and prestige of educational programmes, and provide a well-qualified, bilingual workforce

for Vietnam’s rapidly developing economy. Hong seemed to be responding to this trend and

was rethinking her future career trajectory. In addition, students’ higher English levels might

become a threat to her EFL profession. She predicted students would not need to learn English

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at the tertiary level as they would be qualified enough. The fact was that students learned

English from grade 3 at primary school until high school, and many of them had opportunities

to learn English with foreigners at English centres. The third might relate to her lack of

confidence in her English language proficiency, specifically native-like

accents/pronunciation/speaking, which is discussed in detail in Chapter 6. Hong believed that

the English she learned a long time ago was “old” (see Chapter 6). Therefore, she wanted to

move to teach student majors in English (EMI or ESP) so that she could confidently show her

major knowledge and only use English as a tool. This linked to the fourth reason, namely her

belief that EFL teachers were looked down on by others in academia, because EFL teaching

was not as prestigious as major subjects, as shown in the following excerpt from her pre-

interview:

I have heard that some colleagues in other faculties in our university…They considered

our subject [English] as an additional tool, not a core subject like theirs. They can teach

their major subjects in English. They mean that they are good at teaching English and

teaching majors while EFL teachers are good at only one. I feel that EFL teachers are

kind of redundant, not important…I think they are right…I agree with them…[Hong-

Pre-interview]

In the excerpt, Hong expresses how she did not like being positioned as an EFL teacher who

only knew how to teach English in comparison to major teachers who were able to teach

English and majors. As a result, she took up that position and developed a negative feeling

about her EFL job.

All these reasons pushed her to want to move away from EFL teaching towards ESP

or EMI as it advantaged her as an experienced teacher. However, in reality, she was still

teaching GE, still an EFL teacher, and felt that she could not compare with the novices in

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terms of energy and enthusiasm. That was why Hong positioned herself negatively within the

novice/experienced discourse.

To sum up, under the discourse of experience, the novice teachers held some

assumptions such as experience/less trouble, experience/strictness, and experience/respect

from students. They wished they were experienced in order not to struggle with these issues.

At the same time, the experienced teacher maintained negative emotions as she saw the

benefits of being a new teacher, such as activeness and enthusiasm. The next section looks at

how these issues of both novice and experienced teachers were addressed in the CoP

meetings.

4.3 During the CoP

4.3.1 Challenging the misconceptions of the novice teachers

Experience or age was not a topic pre-selected for discussion in the CoP meetings; however, it

was still mentioned as one of the teacher participants’ concerns

More experienced/less trouble

During CoP 1, when discussing the topic “how to deal with students with disruptive

behaviours”, all the experienced teachers, namely Hong, Thu, Thi, Thuy, Khanh, Lan (a visiting

guest), and I, openly shared our own problems with students. Specifically, we talked about

problems when students did not concentrate on the lessons, ignored teachers, or sometimes

even had arguments with teachers (Thu), challenges in mixed-large classes when students had

different demands (Thuy), dealing with students who seemed to be stubborn, did not cooperate

with classmates, and did not involve themselves in classroom activities (Hong and Lan), coping

with difficult students who made teachers lose their temper (Thi and I) and dealing with difficult

students by using humour to de-escalate and avoid conflicts between teachers and students

(Khanh).

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 The data from the CoP 1 recording and the teachers’ reflections show that it was mainly

the experienced teachers who shared their experiences with the group. Nga and Hai listened

attentively. They sometimes asked questions to check their understanding, clarify some points

or ask for advice. In the reflections, both the novices wrote that they mainly listened to other

teachers’ sharing because they faced student-related problems in their classrooms and had not

found solutions yet. That was why they waited for the experienced teachers to share so that

they could listen to and learn from them rather than share what they did not know. Another

reason for their quietness might relate to the Vietnamese culture that young people should listen

to the elder ones to show respect. This cultural belief created a hierarchy between the junior

and senior, or novice and experienced people. However, the data from this study did not clearly

record this hierarchical matter. I will discuss this issue further in the next section.

After this first CoP meeting, Nga reflected, “many other teachers had difficulties

dealing with disruptive behaviours from students, even the experienced ones” [Nga-Ref1]. The

word “even” revealed her surprise and possibly challenged her belief that experienced teachers

had less trouble in class because of their age and experience. Hai had the same feeling of

surprise when she wrote “dealing with students who have disruptive behaviours turned out to

be a very common problem for teachers, not only me as a young and new teacher but also

experienced ones…”. (These reflections were originally written by Nga and Hai in English, so

I put in italics to distinguish between data in English (italics) and translated from Vietnamese

– see more in section 3.10 - Chapter 3). It is obvious that before this meeting Nga and Hai

thought that problems with students were only among novice teachers. Both held different

views on experienced teachers until this meeting. The meeting showed them that the problems

they have encountered relate to teaching and dealing with students, that these problems can

happen to both novice and experienced teachers, and that experienced teachers still struggle a

great deal, despite years of service. Being experienced does not guarantee teachers would face

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fewer problems and being a novice does not mean that teachers had more problems to deal

with. This challenged Nga and Hai’s pre-conceived ideas as it highlighted that it was not about

looking older that could lead to fewer problems.

More experienced/more strictness

The data from the recording of CoP 1 indicate that Nga listened attentively to the discussions

on student issues. She then asked for advice on how she could have handled a situation in which

she gave students a task to do but found that some of them refused to do the task. She kept

telling them what to do, however, they just stretched on the table and slept. She could not be

tough or strict to students as she had to be friendly to them. She did not know what to do with

these students, so she ignored them.

In response to Nga’s case, the CoP teachers shared various stories and views based on

their experiences. First of all, they agreed with Nga that students in her class showed disruptive

behaviours. They then shared their teaching stories in which they encountered plenty of

disruptive behaviours from students (e.g., talking loudly to teachers, not listening to the lecture,

chatting, and doing other jobs in class) and the ways they coped with these students. Thi, Hong,

and I, after sharing our experiences, concluded that we rarely ignored students. We supported

Thi’s claim that “If I got angry with students, they would look at me in a negative way which

might destroy our relationship and the class environment” [CoP 1]. We were aware that there

was reciprocity – if we got angry with students, they had the same attitude towards us.

Toughness, strictness, or not in dealing with difficult students might damage the teacher-student

relationship, classroom environment and demotivate both students and teachers to go to class.

Thi suggested teachers should try to be gentle or soft to students, the more disruptive students

were, the calmer and gentler teachers should be. Lan, in contrast, voiced a different opinion

from us. She said she would choose to ignore such students because focusing on them might

waste other students’ time, and she could not achieve the aim or goal of that day’s lesson.

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However, Lan stressed that she only did ignore students in some cases when she understood

them and their psychology. She knew that these students could not focus on the lesson at that

time due to their characteristics or that they had a different learning goal as they worked part-

time, so she felt she knew what was good for them. Back to Nga’s question, Thi suggested Nga

should give herself a silent moment so that she could deal with these students more easily. Lan

suggested Nga guide students by modelling, providing them with examples, clarifying the

tasks, and asking them if they had any problems in order to show her care to them instead of

ignoring them.

The data from the CoP 1 show that strictness did not relate to experience or age, the

teachers all tended to be friendly with students. Thus, it challenged both novice teachers’

assumptions regarding experience/strictness. Moreover, this also challenged Nga’s belief that

she understood students due to her affinity with them because she was close to their age.

The data also revealed the way the more experienced teachers scaffolded Nga. We first

showed empathy with Nga as we had previously experienced her problem and acknowledged

students’ disruptive behaviour toward her. This meant that we did not position her as an inferior

or inexperienced teacher. We listened to her situation and tried to answer her question by

relating it to our teaching practices. The sharing involved both our successful and unsuccessful

stories, the lessons drawn from our failures, and multiple perspectives on one issue. It was

evident that we showed our honesty and openness, we were not afraid to show our failure. As

this was the first CoP meeting (but the third meeting we met each other), our honest sharing

seemed to break the ice and connect the members. We took time to answer Nga’s question,

giving her practical answers as well as constructive suggestions. We positioned ourselves as

her colleagues who shared the same trouble. We shared the ways we acted in a similar situation

to hers, but we did not impose solutions. Nga had the right to follow our suggestions or not. In

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this way, the CoP built up trust and collegiality between novice and experienced teachers. There

seemed no hierarchy among us leading to the elimination of the cultural barrier.

More experienced/more respect

Respect from students was the greatest concern among the novice teachers. During the CoP

meetings, Nga and Hai raised this issue many times. The data from CoP 1, 2, and 3 showed that

both considered students’ not listening and asking questions as challenges to their authority.

The tension was that they wanted to be close to students to build up a rapport, but they also

wanted students to maintain appropriate boundaries so that students would respect them as a

teacher. Take an extract from CoP 3 as an example.

Hai: Students question me a lot.

Nga: Same!

Hai: And I cannot answer all their questions. You [the experienced teachers] are lucky

... because they do not question you and you do not need to answer much… like me!

Nga: I agree!

[CoP 3]

The novices were not comfortable being questioned by students. They compared themselves

with experienced teachers and felt unlucky. For them, the experienced teachers gained students’

respect in the way that students did not question them. They linked students’ respect to teachers’

experience and age. However, Thi’s answer seemed to contradict their belief:

Thi: It is natural and normal when students raise questions when you are young and

new. I think students feel curious and probably want to challenge you…your knowledge

for example. But it is not because they do not respect you. When they feel satisfied with

your knowledge, they may not question much.

[CoP 3]

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Thi gave the novices another view when looking at the issue of students’ respect. According to

Thi, it was not experience but the knowledge that made students respect teachers. Knowledge

might include knowledge of the subject matter, students, methodology, and context. Thi seemed

to challenge the novice teachers’ assumptions by pointing out that so-called unquestioning

authority, which was influenced by the Confucian culture in which students had to listen to

teachers rather than question them, did not exist.

In the same vein, while Nga and Hai referred to students’ not listening as a sign of

disrespect, Hong presented a different perspective:

International bachelor’s degree (IBD) students … their bad behaviour toward teachers

does not mean that they do not respect teachers. They still respect teachers, but probably

their style is like that. At first, I did not know that, so I tried to use ways that a teacher

should and could do to constrain them…be strict with them and punish them for

example. I also questioned myself why they behaved toward teachers like that. Later,

when I was friendly and close to them, I found it amazing as they told me everything.

They were open and close to me…they even gave me their food…I realised that they

were not as I had thought before. They genuinely respect teachers. However, it is due

to the style of their generation. These students only focus on studying for a short time.

They cannot do exercises in silence for a long time. That’s why we need to integrate

activities, for example, learn, play, learn, play.

[CoP 1]

In the extract, Hong suggests that there was a change in student expectations over time which

Hong had observed over years of teaching. She points out some features of students’ current

generation that teachers should notice to understand students better. Overall, according to

Hong, it was not experience, but teachers’ behaviours and actions that led to students’ respect.

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This challenged what Nga and Hai believed that the more experienced the more respect from

students.

When Nga brought up the issue of clothes that made her look more mature in CoP 5,

most of the experienced teachers expressed their empathy with Nga as they did the same thing

when they were at the beginning of their careers. Thus, Thi shared that she wore formal clothes

to get more confident herself in class because as a beginning teacher, she was not confident

enough to stand in front of many students to deliver lessons. The stories from Thi and other

more experienced teachers might influence Nga’s way of thinking about the clothes issue.

To sum up, experience, strictness, respect, and student issues became the novice

teachers’ concern in constructing their professional identity and in teaching effectively.

Scaffolding and discussions from the CoP members challenged the novices’ assumptions and

beliefs and provided them with some new ways to think about and resolve their issues.

4.3.2 Negative emotions

The data from the recordings show that the participants were interested in the use of games,

activities, and technology in teaching practice to motivate students. They all indicated that using

these tools was a good idea. However, Hong seemed to express some resistance.

Thi: I think to avoid students making noise or sleeping in class, we should change their

seats or organise games for them.

I: I agree with you!

Hong: Uhm…I feel old and too tired to move around the class or to raise my voice to

arrange activities even though I have plenty of ideas.

[CoP 1]

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 Hong: I see that young teachers have more advantages than us [when we discussed

games, activities, and technology]. I can design activities like that, but I don’t want to

do it. When I am in class, I don’t want to move …

……

Thu: I think Nga and Hai’s activities need much investment of time and energy.

Hong: To organise a class activity requires teachers to actively join in and laugh…but

I don’t like it…

[CoP 7]

The data shows that Hong kept identifying herself as an old teacher who was passive, and had

little energy and enthusiasm in using games, activities, or applying technology in class. This

was similar to what she stated in the pre-interview. However, in these extracts, she also

emphasised that she knew a lot and could design activities like the novices did, however, she

resisted because she did not like or want to use these tools.

Two implications could be drawn from the data. First, it seemed to Hong that it was not

games, activities, or technology that made students engage in lessons, rather it was teachers’

knowledge, skills, and understandings of students that could motivate them to learn. In this

way, Hong protected the teacher image that she already had. After all, she still taught effectively

and had a good relationship with students even without the use of games and technology.

Second, Hong might not want to be inferior to the novice teachers. This became clearer when

Hong commented:

I feel our group has two very different kinds of teachers. The young teachers are

enthusiastic and want to idealise everything whereas the old ones take it easy for

everything, they can teach any kind of students providing that they can have a full

teaching timetable each semester.

[CoP 2]

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She made the last comment when she saw that the young teachers had much concern about how

to give feedback to students, how to get good feedback from students, and how to build up the

image of a teacher who has students’ respect. While positioning the novice teachers as

enthusiastic and idealistic, Hong positioned herself as opposed to this – she was practical and

manageable, therefore not inferior to the novices. The above extract also implicitly reveals how

their teaching was impacted by their teaching load. It was likely that what Hong wanted other

participants to know was the challenges that she and other experienced teachers faced. Using

games, activities, and technology was ideal for learning and teaching practice, however, the

pressure from workload might limit them to apply these. Her different ideas in these cases thus

did not show her negation with what other participants suggested, but she tried to provide them

with another lens on this issue. In this way, I argue that although showing her disagreement

with others, Hong was actively involved in the discussions and that what Hong wanted to do in

the CoP meetings was to voice her ideas and to be listened to by others. The extracts below

support this argument.

Thu: I understand. It is especially true for this semester when we cover a huge workload.

We may be full of energy for the first few weeks but then feel exhausted for the last

weeks.

Hong: Right, I feel demotivated to go to the class, I don’t even want to look at students’

faces. Maybe reducing teaching hours is the only way.

[CoP 1]

Thu: Uhm …Maybe at our age, it is hard to be active…

Hong: Therefore, I feel that I can’t organise activities as Nga and Hai do even though

I know a lot. This is my weakness.

[CoP 7]

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The data showed that Hong received empathy and agreement when she voiced her issues. She

freely expressed her negative feelings in front of others. Though Hong found an age-related

excuse to avoid using games, activities, and technology, she still acknowledged the advantages

of the novice teachers and noticed her weakness. Shen then found a solution by herself –

reducing teaching hours. Reducing teaching hours meant reducing workload and accordingly

reducing income. It is a dilemma for Vietnamese teachers in general and EFL teachers in

particular because the more they teach the more they earn. For Hong, it was “the only way” and

it would help her have time and energy to put in lesson preparation with games, activities, and

technology as the novices did.

To sum up, in comparison to the novice teachers Hong held negative feelings towards

the use of games, activities, and technology – the representation of energy, enthusiasm, and up-

to-date methods. However, through discussions with other CoP members, witnessing the

strength of the novice teachers, acknowledging her weakness, and receiving sympathies from

other members who were in a similar situation, Hong revealed her genuine feelings and

opinions and was able to find her own solution.

4.4 After the CoP

In their post-interviews, Nga, Hai, and Hong did not talk negatively about their age again. They

seemed to find answers or solutions to their own problems. Each learned different things from

the CoP, thus their takeaways were accordingly different. However, in general, they all

experienced a positive shift in their identities and practices within the experience discourse.

4.4.1 Becoming confident

Reflecting on herself before her CoP participation, Nga admitted that she was “so confused”

and “unstable” in her teaching style. On the one hand, she herself wanted to be friendly with

students; on the other hand, she was advised to be strict with students so that she could manage

classrooms and make students listen to her. Of course, Nga wanted students to listen to her and

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follow her instructions. That was why she felt constrained and confused; her identity was a site

of struggle; her relationship with students was somehow not good. The participation in the CoP

enabled her to reinforce her desired trajectory and confirm what she was doing was suitable.

Nga stated:

After participating in the CoP, I saw I was reinforced and could confirm that my

orientation was appropriate. In the meetings, Hong and Khanh shared that they were

always close to their students. So, I felt that I did not necessarily follow anyone’s

directions. Instead, I should be myself and follow my teaching style. In recent lessons,

I felt I was more comfortable with students, and because of this, I become more

confident in the teaching stage in class [….] I felt that after my CoP participation, my

orientation becomes clearer, I can define myself better, about what kind of teacher I

should be. [Nga-Post-interview]

Having opportunities to raise her problems and concerns, receiving advice from the CoP

members, and accessing hands-on resources, Nga was able to ascertain her teaching style and

the type of teacher she would like to be, namely a friendly teacher instructing students with a

friendly teaching style. She applied the knowledge in her practice and found that it worked for

her students and classes. She felt more comfortable with students and confident in teaching as

a result of having a clear sense of her professional identity. Nga found the answer to her

confusion and struggle by sharing it with the more experienced participants. The knowledge

the participants shared might not be totally new for her to change her style, but “reinforce”,

“confirm”, and was consistent with her desired orientation.

Disruptive students no longer irritated her, and she stopped ignoring them as she did

before. She explained, “In CoP meetings, the members suggested not ignoring students. So,

when I saw them feeling tired, I would approach them to show my care or make a joke. For

example, I gently told a tired student, “If you felt unwell, you can leave class early” but she

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refused my suggestion and got back to the lesson soon” [Nga-Post-interview]. In her

relationship with students, Nga became caring, approachable, and able to deal with difficult

situations.

As a result of the refinement in her professional identity, Nga felt she was more

confident in class, which helped her students learn and ultimately helped them perform better

on assessments. She described her change in classrooms:

In recent lessons, I am more comfortable with students. I feel more confident when

standing in front of students and delivering lectures to them. You know…I am young,

just several years older than the students, I know how they communicate and what

language they use. For example, when I assigned them to do a task – “make your budget

list for a new year”. There was a student…saying that he wanted to travel, wanted to

spend his money covering his friend’s expenses. I commented that “You’re a rich kid!”

and the whole class laughed out loud. Before I have never dared to say like that. I

probably said, “Good luck to you” or “congratulation” …or something like that. I realise

that when I use friendly language, students feel closer to me. So far, when they meet

me outside class, they happily greet me. I am so happy…[Nga-Post-interview]

In this extract, Nga clearly positioned herself as a confident teacher. This led to her positive

feelings (e.g., comfortable, confident, and happy), effective teaching (creating a happy moment

for students in classroom activities), and respect received from students (cheerfully greeting

her). Her practice mirrored her professional identity. Feelings of confidence (in her teaching

ability), comfort (not pressuring herself and getting stressed by students), and certainty

(defining her professional identity clearly) replaced Nga’s anxiety and confusion.

4.4.2 Becoming reflective

Before the CoP, what Hai wanted from students was that they respected her as a teacher

although she was friendly and close to them. With the help of the suggestions made and stories

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shared by the other CoP members, Hai figured out to become a reflective teacher and realised

the root of her problems. Hai admitted that before the CoP she often worked in isolation. When

she noticed a problem, she would leave it in the hopes that it would resolve itself when she had

more experience or was more mature. In the pre-interview, she explicitly referred to age as the

root of her problem. However, now she said:

Before I was unsure whether what I did was effective or not. Participating in the CoP

helped me raise my awareness of reflecting on what I have done. I mean…completing

a lesson is not complete because we need to look back at that lesson, find out any

problems we encounter in the lesson, raise the problems, and ask other teachers for their

solutions. I mean I am aware of self-development and professional development. I find

my problem and try to find solutions to it. This is what I have changed most since the

CoP. [Hai-Post-interview]

After the conclusion of the CoP group, Hai started to focus on her personal and professional

development rather than on what to expect of students. She understood student- and class-

related issues and solved the problems as soon as she could. Like Nga, Hai also learned from

her CoP participation. As shown during the CoP, experienced teachers usually reflected on our

teaching and drew lessons from our unsuccessful experiences in class. We took agency in our

classes and did not ignore problems (in this chapter, it is student-related problems) because we

understood that when unsolved problems existed, they made learning environments or teacher-

student relationships unhealthy, thereby making us demotivated in class and in our profession.

Hai likely learned from the experiences of other CoP participants. She may have realised that

age was not the ultimate solution to her problems, or it was not age that influenced her teaching

or relationship with students. She understood that reflective practice would be the most

important key to solving problems. This was Hai’s most vital takeaway from her CoP

participation.

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4.4.3 Receiving a vitamin booster

The post-CoP data suggested that Hong applied what was discussed in the CoP meeting for

herself rather than for her teaching practice. This was understandable because she positioned

herself as an experienced and knowledgeable teacher. She might not see the knowledge shared

in the CoP as new. The fact was that she had rich teaching experiences, attended plenty of PD

programmes, read many books, understood theories, and was undertaking a PhD journey. The

data from the CoP recordings and reflections showed that Hong actively engaged in CoP

discussions and enthusiastically shared her experiences and knowledge with other teachers. It

meant that much knowledge shared in the CoP came from her. While the CoP discussions may

not have held anything new for Hong professionally, she commented that the CoP meetings

helped her develop emotionally instead.

The CoP is absolutely a vitamin booster for me keeping me away from the negative

feelings such as being unconfident and disappointed with myself. Now I seem to better

understand myself and know how to control my negative feelings. The CoP definitely

helped me gain a positive feeling as well as gave me solutions to my problems. [Hong-

Post-interview]

Looking back at the data from the pre-interviews, the CoP recording, and reflections, the

negative feelings Hong mentions in the extract seem to relate to her comparison of herself with

young teachers when she witnessed their energy, enthusiasm, and technology knowledge. The

interaction with the young teachers and the insights she gained from the experienced ones - the

mixed ages and reciprocity in the CoP - enabled Hong to make sense of her root problem and

find a solution.

Her positive feeling was evident in her written reflections: “I felt satisfied and

comfortable as I could share my own trouble and talk about it in a very friendly atmosphere. I

felt more motivated in my teaching. [Hong-Ref1].

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 Also, in an informal conversation with Hong after the CoP meeting (the artefact that I

collected), Hong happily laughed and said, “I’m so excited! The CoP was so interesting, and I

seemed to talk too much…kind of over-excited or over-reactive... Do you think I talk a lot?”.

Of course, my genuine answer was that she did very well in the CoP. She shared a lot of useful

information that could help other participants. Even when she showed her different perspectives

from others, this also meant that she actively participated in the CoP (Wenger, 1998). For me,

Hong played the role of an active participant and a facilitator of the CoP meetings that

contributed to the CoP success.

In another reflection, she wrote:

Interacting with the novice teachers, I can feel their energy and enthusiasm. I feel more

inspired to go to the class. After each CoP meeting, I always think I need to plan lessons

more carefully and work more seriously. I am thinking about workload reduction. To

me today’s meeting was really motivating, a really good thing for me. [Hong-Ref3]

Her reflection supported what she shared in the meeting “I think what I apply from the CoP is

not for my classroom, but myself. I feel that I am more motivated. I prepared for lessons more

carefully. You know age and workload make me tired…I want to be better, but previously I

couldn’t …” [CoP 4]. Unlike Nga and Hai, who said they learned so many “valuable" things

such as knowledge, ideas, experiences, resources from the CoPs and they applied and found it

work well in their classes, what Hong learned from others was how to maintain her motivation

and enthusiasm for her job.

4.5 Summary

Comparing oneself to others is a natural human trait. The data collected before and during the

CoP revealed that both young and senior teachers compared themselves to one another,

identified the advantages of other groups, and tended to position themselves more negatively

than positively. Through honest stories about rich experiences, the participants in the CoP

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questioned their assumptions or misconceptions about one another. In other words, they

focused on their own abilities and the abilities of other teachers in order to grow, rather than on

their own shortcomings, disadvantages, or feelings of inferiority. The CoP provided a place for

the teachers to discuss their concerns and propose solutions. Following the CoP, these teachers

noticed a positive shift. This process of change was lengthy and challenging, but possible as

Burr (2003, 2015) states. Without collaborative, constructive, honest, and open exchange of

ideas and experiences in the CoP, these teachers may never be able to escape their taken-for-

granted knowledge. Additionally, each participant had a unique takeaway. The CoP gave Nga

and Hai ideas and expertise for their teaching, resulting in a change in their professional identity

and practice. However, the CoP benefited Hong differently - by infusing her with positive

energy that revived and revitalised her motivation.

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 CHAPTER 5: RENEGOTIATING TEACHER PROFESSIONAL IDENTITIES

THROUGH THE DISCOURSE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY

5. 1 Introduction

Within the field of EFL teaching, there are multiple discourses that shape teacher identities and

practices; for example, the discourse of English language proficiency, discourses of effective

teaching methods, and “good teacher” discourses. As indicated in Chapter 1, English language

proficiency discourse is of great concern in the Vietnamese context. The majority of PD content

for EFL teachers focuses on enhancing teachers’ English language skills in order to improve

the quality of English teaching and learning. According to the findings of this study, English

language proficiency was a major topic of discussion among the teacher participants and this

discourse shaped their professional identities. Prior to the CoP, almost all teachers saw language

proficiency as a crucial criterion for being a good or effective EFL teacher, alongside other

discourses related to teaching methodology, knowledge about students and contexts, and such

characteristics as enthusiasm or passion. While they identified themselves as good teachers,

many claimed that they lacked confidence in their English because they did not have native

speaker pronunciation, accent, and speaking ability. This issue was discussed during the CoP

sessions. In general, although the participants felt less competent in English language

proficiency prior to the CoP, they positioned themselves strongly in other ‘good teacher’

discourses such as teaching methodology, knowing students and contexts, and being passionate

and enthusiastic. The data suggests that this carried more weight for them than the English

language proficiency discourse.

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5.2 Before the CoP

5.2.1 English language proficiency discourse– the criterion for being a good teacher

The findings from the pre-interviews suggest that English language proficiency discourse was

an important criterion for being a good EFL teacher. Except for Khanh, all participants named

language proficiency as the first criterion, referring to it as expertise knowledge (Hong, Nga,

Hai, Thu) or professional competence (Thi, Thuy).

5.2.2 The lack of confidence in English language proficiency

These teachers, however, appeared to be unconfident in their language proficiency. They gave

several explanations for this. The first was related to the issue of the native speaker discourse

(EFL teachers should have native-like pronunciation/accent/speaking), associated with the

demands and expectations of students. According to Hong, one of the difficulties she faced was

the feeling of deficiency in English language proficiency.

I learned English a long time ago, thus I feel like my English is outdated and inferior to

current English, particularly in terms of native-like pronunciation, accent, and speaking

ability. [Hong-Pre-interview]

At the time of the study, Hong was in her mid-40s. Historically (in the 1980s and 1990s),

veteran lecturers in Vietnam underwent pre-service teacher training that did not assist them in

enhancing listening and speaking abilities (Hoang, 2010). They frequently learned English with

teachers who had switched from their Russian major to an English major in order to remain

employed when Russian language education was no longer of interest in Vietnam. The majority

of English classes were taught using the grammar-translation method. Students like Hong

studied hard for their exams, spending long hours on exercises in grammar, sentence structure,

and vocabulary. As a result of this, Hong may have referred to her English as "old" because it

lacked native-sounding accents, pronunciation, and speaking. She did not seem to be secure in

her English, and explained her attitudes towards her language skill as follows:

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 Students generally pay attention to such things as the pronunciation/accents/speaking

of a teacher. As an example, when we start a new class, the students are more interested

in how we speak in English than what content we deliver. This is a factor in their

decision to come to class with us instead of others. It is critical that we make a good

first impression by speaking English well. As a result, I’m struggling with it. The

purpose of learning English is not to sound like a native speaker, it is to turn English

into an effective communication tool at work or in life, as I was led to believe by

bilingual/multilingual expert-led PD programmes as well as by books and other sources

of information. However, I feel that from students’ view, a good EFL teacher should be

able to speak and pronounce English like a native speaker. Students tend to think that

way and believe that those who can do so are better at teaching English. This way of

thinking is deeply rooted in their mind... And teaching students with low English

proficiency levels is more difficult for me than teaching higher-level students. The latter

is more open-minded and less demanding for the nativelikeness of teachers in

comparison to the former. [Hong-Pre-interview]

Hong believed that the expectation for teachers to speak like native speakers was deeply rooted

in students’ minds even though Hong had learned that English teaching and learning should not

focus on being native-like, rather EFL teachers should instruct students to make English an

effective communication tool. Students and society were the ones who placed her under a lot

of pressure and made her doubt her English skills. The expectations of students and society

about teachers were at odds with what she had been taught, which caused her professional

identity to be conflicted and her performance in the classroom to suffer.

Nga shared a similar belief as Hong. Nga believed that “students had a preconception

that NESTs were modes of correct language use and pronunciation” [Nga-Pre-interview] and

that students wanted to learn with NESTs rather than with NNESTs like her. It should be noted

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that Nga had no experience co-teaching with NESTs before. Her concerns about her English

were thus mainly based on her own experience with students. In other words, it was students

and their stereotypes that made Nga feel insecure about her English pronunciation, accent, and

speaking.

Like Hong and Nga, Thi felt the need to enhance her English

pronunciation/speaking/accent because of the pressure she faced from her students.

There are some students who focus on teachers’ pronunciation, accents, and speaking

skills. I remember that one student pointed out the pronunciation mistakes I made. I was

quite embarrassed at that time. Students seem to expect teachers to sound like native

speakers. My age makes it difficult for me to learn to speak and pronounce like a native

speaker, even though I’d prefer to do so. [Thi-Pre-interview].

The above data indicate that Hong, Thi, and Nga were aware of the expectations of students

within the native speaker discourse, which may be in conflict with what they knew about

teaching and learning English. More specifically, what they aimed at in teaching English was

to instruct students to use English language as a means of communication at work and in life,

not to make them sound like native speakers; however, what students expected was to learn

with the teachers who sounded like native speakers. This pressured the teachers and made them

feel insecure about their English language. The three teachers expressed the wish to improve

their English but struggled with sounding more native-like.

The expectation for teachers to sound like native speakers may seem explicit from

students; however, this attitude appears to be embedded in cultural and societal beliefs. One

reason for this expectation may be found within the Confucian culture, in which teachers are

expected to be the authority of knowledge; they should know everything about the subject they

teach. Thus, as EFL teachers, they should be proficient in English including pronunciation,

accent, and speaking skills and that is what students expect from teachers. A second reason

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could be society’s concern about communicativeness. As stated in Chapter 1, the empirical

research indicated that the majority of students could not communicate in English after leaving

school or graduating from university. This raises an alarm for teachers, educators, and society.

The traditional teaching methodologies, which ignore communicative factors and focus on tests

and examinations instead, have been criticised and teachers are considered to be responsible

for this situation. Therefore, students and society expect English classes to foster

communication and to be conducted by a teacher with native-like pronunciation, accent, and

speaking within the native speaker discourse.

A third reason for the teachers’ lack of confidence in their English related to a lack of

time and a huge workload. Both of these factors meant that teachers only had limited time to

engage in self-development. In response to this issue, Thuy and Thu expressed concern about

the English language proficiency discourse as shown in the following extracts:

I think my English language skills aren’t good. In my own opinion, my English has

deteriorated significantly. Due to the amount of time spent studying English at

university, my IELTS or TOEFL scores were significantly higher. I’m now distracted

by a variety of things, including my family and workload. As a result, I have little time

to devote to furthering my language proficiency. For example, I rarely devote time to

learning the English language by reading or listening to materials in the English

language. The reason my English is not good is because of this. [Thuy-Pre-interview]

My English, I believe, has remained static. I believe that society is rapidly evolving, but

I lack the time to study or learn more because I am juggling a large amount of work.

[Thu-Pre-interview]

Workload is a frequent source of contention for Vietnamese teachers in general and EFL

teachers in particular. As indicated in Chapters 1 and 3, teachers’ low salaries force them to

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carry heavy teaching loads at school/university and to teach extra classes to supplement their

income. At the university, new programmes lead to more students, which means more work for

teachers to cover. In other words, the workload issue might be caused by the teachers

themselves as they seek to increase their earnings, or with others as they are assigned to teach.

As a result, the teacher participants (particularly, Thuy and Thu) reported they lacked time for

activities like reading and listening to English sources or continuing their education. They

believed that their English accordingly deteriorated or remained unchanged.

Other possible explanations for teachers’ lower confidence in their English include a

lengthy history of teaching low-English-level students (Hong) and students’ recent

improvement in English proficiency (Thu, Thi). According to Hong, her English “decreased

with time as [she] taught students with limited English proficiency” [Hong-Pre-interview].

Hong taught students who were economics majors or non-English majors. They frequently

spent three years of high school or most of their time studying subjects (Math, Chemistry, and

Physics) that prepare them to pass the university entrance exam. Not only was admission to

university their desire, but it was also their parents’ dream. That is why they preferred to

disregard other disciplines, including English, in order to focus only on the major subjects.

Additionally, students from remote and rural areas had limited access to English education. As

a result, students’ English proficiency was frequently limited, particularly prior to the

implementation of EMI at the university (see section 3.6 – Chapter 3 for additional

information). Teaching such students required teachers to adapt their English to their students’

needs. For instance, teachers may employ basic and straightforward language or use

Vietnamese in their instructions and explanations to ensure that students comprehend and

participate in lessons. These factors may account for Hong’s feeling of a decrease in her English

competence throughout her years of teaching low-English-level students.

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 While Hong discussed the low English proficiency of the previous student generation,

Thu and Thi agreed that contemporary students’ English proficiency has significantly improved

in recent years. Since the introduction of EMI in Vietnam, the university has launched a number

of high-quality and advanced programmes, the number of which continues to grow (see section

3. 6 – Chapter 3). Only students with a particular level of English are eligible to enrol in these

programmes, as they require English to master their majors. Thu and Thi found that as students’

English skills improved, they became more demanding of teachers, and this has made them

more uncertain and self-conscious about their language proficiency.

5.2.3 Confidence in English language proficiency

By contrast, Khanh was the only participant who did not consider English proficiency to be a

requirement for becoming a good teacher and that he improved his English throughout his years

of teaching. According to Khanh, “anyone seeking certification as an EFL teacher must possess

a particular level of English following four years of university study. Teachers might require a

certain level of language ability that enables them to instruct students effectively. When

teachers guide students to utilise English, students are likely to perform better than teachers”

[Khanh-Pre-interview]. Khanh’s attitude differs markedly from the other participants. For

Khanh, English was a practical skill or tool that teachers possessed or acquired after years of

rigorous study. EFL teachers should be confident enough to train students to use the tool

properly and accept the possibility that students would be more proficient users than teachers.

This implied that Khanh was quite open to thinking that students might be better than teachers

which is quite different from the Confucian definition of teacher roles. As a result of this way

of thinking, Khanh expressed confidence in his English language.

Khanh also noted that he had made significant advances in his English language

proficiency throughout his teaching career.

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 My English has improved significantly over the last six years, it is significantly better

than it was when I began teaching. Teaching English enables me to improve my English

proficiency... I am more fluent in my language. I’m finding it much easier to complete

tests (such as IELTS) with which I previously battled. Additionally, when I use

materials to teach, I gain a wealth of information from various disciplines such as

business, economics, and society. [Khanh-Pre-interview]

Because of teaching English, Khanh did not only improve his English, he also broadened his

horizon by learning about topics related to natural and social sciences. English opened his mind

to other fields. Not only his students but he himself benefited from English learning and

teaching. Khanh demonstrated his confidence in his English language proficiency and in

teaching English in this manner. His confidence was diametrically opposed to that of the other

teacher participants.

Compared to teachers of other majors, Khanh felt confident with the English subject he

was teaching. When Khanh heard a teacher of majors (rather than English) say that English was

just a tool, he argued that being an EFL teacher allowed him to develop his English as a subject

matter as well as enrich his knowledge of other majors through textbooks and teaching

materials he used. He made significant advances in his English language proficiency. In this

way, Khanh resisted the inferior position others imposed on EFL teachers which the other

teachers tended to take up.

Khanh’s confidence in his language abilities may also be a result of his IELTS score.

Project 2020 was initiated with the goal of increasing teachers’ and students’ English language

proficiency. The dismal results of both students’ and teachers’ language proficiency reported

in 2013 (see Chapter 1) made society and stakeholders concerned about teachers’ language

proficiency and prompted them to evaluate them using international standardised tests such as

IELTS or CEFR, with IELTS appearing to be more popular. Those who have an IELTS

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certificate can readily find additional work at higher-paying English facilities. IELTS appeared

to be a proxy for teachers’ language proficiency. Khanh was the only participant with a high

IELTS score. Khanh did not mention his IELTS score during the interview, but we all knew it

and offered him our congratulations. The excellent IELTS result served as proof or a key,

attesting to his improvement and confidence.

Other teachers may have taken the IELTS examinations as well, but their scores were

lower than they expected, so they did not choose to publicise their results. For instance, Thuy

stated, “When I was in university, my IELTS or TOEFL scores were significantly higher since

I spent most of my time studying English” [Thuy-Pre-interview] suggesting that her current

IELTS score is not as high as she anticipated. Or they may not have taken the IELTS exams to

assess their English proficiency because they were too busy with work to prepare for the test;

the cost of the test was prohibitively expensive and they had to pay for it on their own; or they

were tenured teachers, which meant they were employed for life, so they did not need to take

part in the IELTS test if the Department, Faculty, or University did not require it. Regardless

of the rationale, the other teacher participants made no reference to their IELTS score or result.

However, as mentioned previously, teachers such as Thuy, Khanh, or Nga frequently used

IELTS as a benchmark for measuring their language competency, which impacted their

confidence in English.

The data suggests that Khanh seemed to have more advantages than other teachers

(women) in the CoP. Several possible explanations exist. To begin with, there is a discussion

about the roles of women and men in Vietnamese society. The phrase “Đàn ông xây nhà, đàn

bà xây tổ ấm” (Men build houses, women build homes) exemplifies men’s and women’s roles.

Women’s primary responsibilities are to their families, whereas men’s primary responsibilities

are to their careers. The four experienced female teachers Thuy, Thi, Thu, and Hong have their

own families. This means they have a variety of responsibilities, leaving little opportunity for

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their professional development. Khanh is a single man. That allows him to devote more

attention to his career. However, the roles do not imply that female teachers are not interested

in the job. On the contrary, the above data indicate that these female teachers were concerned

about a decline in their English proficiency and viewed it as a necessary criterion for being a

good teacher, implying that they care about their job by reflecting, admitting their

shortcomings, and seeking to improve their situation. In other words, these teachers saw a need

for their professional development.

The second argument for why Khanh’s situation differs from those of his female

colleagues is related to experience. In the Vietnamese education system, experienced teachers

are typically individuals who have been granted tenure with compensation and specific

positions, which may demotivate their self-improvement. In comparison, young and novice

teachers require additional training to demonstrate their competence. Whereas experienced

teachers enjoy “tenure security” (ADB, 2017, p. 116), novices must earn it. This may explain

why Khanh, who is younger than Thuy, Thi, Thu, and Hong, would study more to better his

professional expertise, particularly in English language proficiency, and to prove himself and

develop himself. Both the reasons meant that Khanh was confident and had developed a

positive professional identity.

With the exception of Khanh, the majority of experienced women teachers expressed

little confidence within the English language proficiency discourse. The perceived pressure of

needing to have native-like speaking/pronunciation/accent (or the native speaker discourse)

created a conflict in their professional identity. Nevertheless, the results indicated that these

participants still considered themselves good teachers because they met other criteria apart from

English language proficiency, namely methodology, enthusiasm, and passion.

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5.2.4 Repositioning using other discourses

In contrast to their feelings about their language competence, almost all the teacher participants

felt confident in their expertise in teaching methodology or the discourse of methodology.

I taught with NESTs at some English centres, not at the university. Many students

informed me that they did not like these teachers’ teaching methodology because they

allowed them to engage in excessive play. Students loved to study with Vietnamese

English teachers such as myself because I maintained a healthy mix between play and

study in class. From personal experience, I am aware of a few foreign teachers whose

pronunciation/accent is less than ideal. Their origins from a particular region of the

country may influence their pronunciation/accent. Additionally, while English is their

native tongue, this does not indicate they are good at teaching the language. Similarly,

I am Vietnamese, and while I am proficient in the language, I am not adept at teaching

it. I believe some of them may not surely know how to teach this language effectively.

[Thuy-Pre-interview]

I am completely comfortable teaching English with NESTs. I believe that they do not

understand students’ requirements as well as Vietnamese English teachers and do not

employ as effective teaching approaches as we do. They are native English speakers; as

a result, they are fluent in this language. [Hai-Pre-interview]

While NESTs have an advantage in terms of speaking and pronunciation, this does not

necessarily imply that they have effective teaching methods. IBD students [who study

an international cooperation programme of the university] preferred to study with

Vietnamese teachers of English rather than NESTs because they better understood the

students. [Thi-Pre-interview]

I used to feel inferior to NESTs. However, after attending numerous professional

development programmes taught by foreign experts, some of whom were not native

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 speakers but were bilingual or multilingual, I developed a different perspective. These

speakers explained to us that speaking natively was unnecessary and that what mattered

most was communicating effectively. This was reinforced by further books and

resources that I read. NESTs are as proficient in English as we are in Vietnamese, but

they lack the methodology for teaching it. Students express a preference for studying

with Vietnamese teachers of English over NESTs, citing their inability to collaborate

well with NESTs in class. I think students are no longer required to attend class and

listen to NESTs in person. Rather than that, they can listen to English language through

a variety of other media such as online videos. [Hong-Pre-interview]

The data indicated that the teachers shared similar ideas about NESTs and teaching

methodology. They agreed that NESTs possessed advantages in pronunciation/speaking due to

the fact that English was their mother tongue, but that NESTs were ineffective in teaching

English to Vietnamese students. In this way, they positioned themselves as non-native speakers

of English rather than as NNESTs. They were distinguished from NESTs by the fact that

English was not their native tongue, not by the fact that they were NNESTs. This positioning

made them feel on an equal footing, even superior, to NESTs. In the role of a language speaker,

they were comparable, NESTs and they were equally adept at English and Vietnamese. It was

understandable that NESTs would have an advantage in terms of

pronunciation/accent/speaking or within the native speaker discourse. Vietnamese EFL

teachers, on the other hand, had an advantage over NESTs regarding the discourse of teaching

methodology. This positioning emphasised that NESTs’ proficiency in

pronunciation/accent/listening did not automatically qualify them as effective teachers of

English to Vietnamese students and that teaching methodologies might be more significant than

sounding like a native speaker.

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 Thuy and Hong also discussed the disadvantages of foreign teachers in Vietnam.

According to Thuy, not all foreign teachers she met spoke English in a standardised way; they

often worked in English language centres rather than universities. As stated in Chapter 1,

Vietnam is open to the world; English has become the predominant foreign language taught at

all educational levels; demand for English instruction thus exceeds the supply of English

teachers; communicative language teaching approaches, rather than traditional ones (e.g.,

grammar-translation), are preferred. All these changes have resulted in the mushrooming of

English language centres in Vietnam and an increase in demand for native, foreign, or

immigrant English speakers. Numerous foreigners who travel to Vietnam without teaching

credentials can nevertheless be hired to teach at English centres due to their ability to

communicate in English and their foreign appearance. This could have a significant impact on

the quality of teaching and learning at English centres. In other words, English teaching and

learning at centres might not be comparable to that at university.

Thuy showed her confidence over NESTs in this manner. Hong, on the other hand,

questioned the role of NESTs, arguing that “students no longer need to attend class and listen

to NESTs in person” [Hong-Pre-interview]. Rather, students can listen to English on a variety

of media. This suggests that she does not agree with the advantages NESTs may bring to the

classroom as she assumes that NESTs could only teach speaking and pronunciation skills, not

other skills, and that they might eventually be replaced by technological support. Meanwhile,

these teacher participants agreed that they knew how to teach English to Vietnamese students

since they had a suitable methodology and understood their culture. They thought they were

better than NESTs. It was interesting that it was students the teachers used as proof that

Vietnamese EFL teachers were preferable to NESTs.

The data indicates that for these teachers, being native English speakers did not

automatically imply that they were adept at teaching the language, possessed appropriate

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methodology, or were knowledgeable about teaching English to Vietnamese students. Thus,

although they were non-native speakers, they regarded themselves to be superior to NESTs as

teachers. They positioned themselves positively in relation to NESTs in terms of pedagogical

knowledge discourse. The data from this study suggests that the teachers were challenging a

stereotype regarding NESTs and NNESTs in English language teaching by demonstrating that

NESTs are not superior to NNESTs.

Unlike its neighbours, China, Japan, Korea, and Thailand, where the majority of English

language instruction is conducted by native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) (Sakui, 2004),

Vietnam’s majority of English language instruction is conducted by local teachers. Phan (2008)

contended that this is healthy and contributes significantly to how Vietnamese EFL teachers

perceive their professional identities, as they rarely come into direct contact with the

native/non-native dichotomy in their working environments. This was also true for the teachers

in this study, who perceived themselves to be confident and even superior to NESTs. The

teachers employed accounts of students’ comments to demonstrate why Vietnamese EFL

teachers were preferred to NESTs.

The data in this section confirmed that the teachers viewed native-like

speaking/pronunciation/accent or the native speaker discourse as an important component of

teaching and learning English, but not as a priority. Apart from the discourse of teaching

methodology, it was more vital to be enthusiastic, dedicated, caring, and understanding students

and contexts so that teachers could change their teaching or find appropriate approaches for

students’ needs. For instance, Hong stated:

The second characteristic of a good EFL teacher is enthusiasm, dedication, and a

genuine concern for students. Not everything is learned in class. Students who do not

feel comfortable cannot learn a foreign language. A friendly, comfortable environment

and a positive relationship with teachers are necessary for students to be willing to share

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 their challenges. Accordingly, teachers can change their teaching methods. This, I

believe, is a critical criterion of being a good teacher. [Hong-Pre-interview]

Thi, Thu, and Khanh shared similar ideas to Hong’s. According to Nga, good teachers must

have a “willing to change” attitude to adapt their instruction to the needs of their students. Thuy

emphasised “passion” in her explanation:

I think passion is the second criterion. Each subject has its own set of obstacles. English

is made even more challenging when students lack a conducive setting and environment

for language use. As a result, it is easy for them to lose interest in learning. If a teacher

is passionate about this subject, she will seek out appropriate ways and continually

update her expertise in order to instruct students. If the teacher is passionate, she will

also tolerate students’ resistance and weaknesses and gradually inspire and instil a love

for English in them, enabling them to study English with the teacher and later

independently. [Thuy-Pre-interview]

This shows that other discourses, such as teaching methodology (Thu, Thi, Hong, Nga, Hai),

enthusiasm (Thu, Hong, Thi, Khanh), passion (Thuy), and a readiness to adapt to students’

needs (Nga) appeared to be far more essential to these teachers than the English language

proficiency discourse. All of them believed they possessed the qualities in such discourses.

That is why they maintained their identity as good teachers despite their lack of confidence in

their language proficiency in light of students' and society’s expectations.

To summarise, these teacher participants claimed to have the teaching methodology,

passion, and enthusiasm necessary for being a good EFL teacher. What they were concerned

about was the deterioration of their English over time and the issue of native-like speaking,

pronunciation, and accent (or the native speaker discourse).

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5.3 During the CoP

5.3.1 Vietnamese or English language in the CoP?

During the second set-up meeting, when asked which language (Vietnamese or English) should

be used in CoP meetings, the novice teachers stated that they were open to any option, whereas

Hong and Thu proposed using Vietnamese for ease and comfort in expressing ideas and

viewpoints. This could indicate a disparity in teachers’ confidence - younger teachers may be

more confident than more experienced ones when it comes to speaking English. This might

also suggest that experienced teachers may wish to save face by refraining from speaking

English - a skill in which they lacked confidence and thought they needed to improve. However,

when I became immersed in the data, I started to think differently. The CoP meetings’ topics

reflected the teachers’ interests and needs. None of these topics addressed how to improve one’s

English language proficiency. This was consistent with what they shared before the CoP that

there were other criteria or discourses for being a good EFL teacher that was more significant

than language proficiency discourse. Perhaps they referred to it as self-development, implying

that they would devote time to practising independently. In other words, the teachers were more

concerned with other topics than with language proficiency. That is why, during the CoP

sessions, they did not choose to use English as a means of communication to develop their

speaking abilities.

5.3.2 Speaking like native speakers?

The discourse of native speaker meaning that EFL teachers should have accents, speak, and

pronounce like native speakers was covered repeatedly during the CoP 5 - Speaking skills

session. At this meeting, all of the teachers emphasised the importance of speaking competence

for teachers and students in class. Speaking was not only a necessary skill for delivering lessons,

communicating, and interacting with students but also a factor in impressing students. Thi and

Thuy brought up the issue. According to Thi, “teachers’ strong speaking abilities can impress

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students and thereby mitigate many of their weaknesses. Students despise teachers who speak

English without using appropriate stress, intonation, or chunking” [CoP 5]. According to Thuy,

“students told me that they felt inspired by teachers who spoke English fluently…like a native

speaker, even though they might not gain any knowledge from the lessons” [CoP 5]. Thuy and

Thi agreed that advanced English students frequently paid close attention to their teachers’

pronunciation, speaking, and accent.

In the same vein, most teachers present at this CoP meeting (Thuy, Thi, Khanh, Thu,

and I) agreed that they were frequently pleased and impressed by students who spoke English

like natives. Occasionally, this resulted in them generalising students’ English proficiency

based solely on their speaking abilities.

As can be seen from the above data, both teachers and students are impressed by native-

like pronunciation/accent/speaking, and both tend to believe that it is also a marker of high

English proficiency in general. However, by reflecting on their teaching experiences, the

participants began to demonstrate their diverse perspectives. Thuy recognised that this way of

thinking was not always accurate. When she asked students to discuss “How to improve

English” - a “very common and popular topic” – on the first day of her speaking class, she was

blown away by students’ speaking, pronunciation, accent, intonation, and fluency. She believed

they were fluent in English. However, her students battled greatly with new topics in the

following days. Their talk deteriorated to the point of being “extremely terrible”. They had no

ideas, had limited vocabulary, and made numerous grammatical errors. She found that native-

like speaking and pronunciation did not help them understand texts and ideas. Thuy also

confessed that while students were evaluated on a variety of criteria, including ideas, a range

of vocabulary, grammar, organisation, fluency, and accuracy, she was occasionally compelled

to grade their speaking on the basis of how native-like they sounded. Thuy's proposal was

endorsed by a large number of instructors at the meeting. They agreed that many students

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nowadays were proficient in the English language, particularly in speaking English with British

English or American English accents. According to them, these students came from families

that placed a high premium on education, enabling them to study English with foreign or native

teachers from a young age.

As part of the discussion in CoP 5, Thuy raised the following questions:

Should I take a pronunciation class? I communicate well and effectively yet do not

speak like a native speaker.

Or

Should I attempt to talk in the manner of native speakers, should I attempt to imitate

their accents? I feel tired of copying their accents…

[CoP 5]

Many teachers advised Thuy against doing so. Here are some pieces of advice:

Thu: Effective lesson preparation takes precedence over native-like pronunciation.

Thu: I believe we could have done a better job focusing on language use and fluency.

We are unable to imitate native speakers’ accents…

Khanh: At your age, no matter how hard you try, it is impossible to learn natives’

accents and pronunciation. When children learn a language at an early age, research

reveals that they can achieve native-like accuracy in their pronunciation... That is, the

younger you are, the more effective you will be at picking up a new language, and the

more precise your pronunciation will be in the target language.

I: My experience living and studying in New Zealand demonstrates that native-like

pronunciation is ineffective. What you say is more significant than the manner in which

you express it. You should have thoughts and ideas to communicate your viewpoint...as

this contributes to the success of your communication. You attempt to talk natively, but

your listeners are unable to understand what you are saying, or you are unable to sustain

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 a discussion for an extended period of time due to a lack of ideas and vocabulary.

Additionally, as English becomes an international language, we embrace a variety of

voices, tones, and accents from throughout the world. Content and ideas will take

precedence. Many professors at universities do not communicate in native tongues, and

it might be difficult to listen to them clearly at times... They are, however, good and

valued by students, not just for their native-like speaking ability.

[CoP 5]

The data reveal that the teachers thought that their speaking abilities needed to be developed.

However, the findings indicate that emulating native-like speech was a stereotype that teachers

should avoid and that, instead of imitating native-like speech, teachers should focus on other

factors such as lesson planning, fluency, content, ideas, and vocabulary. The CoP gave space

for the teachers to express their concerns and noticed similar concerns to theirs. In other words,

they shared concerns about sounding like a native speaker. The social interaction during the

CoP process helped the teachers solve their negative feeling with

pronunciation/accent/speaking or the native speaker discourse together. Rather than copying

native English speakers, they suggested to focus on their strengths such as teaching

methodology, subject matter knowledge, or the lesson plan. In this way, the CoP created a place

for the teachers to become a successful dilemma manager or active negotiator who embraced

the conflict and managed the dilemma (Lampert, 1985 cited in Gort & Glenn, 2010).

The novice teachers also offered useful applications, podcasts, and websites for

improving speaking skills and pronunciations. ELSA, for instance, was a programme that

assisted Hai in correcting her pronunciation and in practicing her speaking abilities. For the

more experienced teachers who were too busy with work to have time for PD, these suggestions

might be useful, and they may give it a try. The experienced teachers including Hong and Thuy

were guided to use these apps on their mobile phones. The novice teachers were thus the MKO

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with the expertise in technology who then scaffolded the idea of using technology to improve

language proficiency for the experienced teachers. In this way, the CoP offered a place where

the teachers could interact and learn from each other in applying technology – one of the targets

of the extended Project 2020 in the period 2017-2025 (see Chapter 1 for more information).

5.4 After the CoP

The data from the post-interview indicates that the teacher participants had developed their own

ways and strategies for dealing with the discourse of native speaker and with the discourse of

English language proficiency in general.

Thuy, for instance, did not think of taking a pronunciation class or imitating native

accents anymore. She enrolled in a course on speaking and teaching methodology instead.

Previously, she had desired but was hesitant to join due to being “lazy”, teaching excessively,

and having “no available time”. The CoP compelled her to act. The previous PD training

courses she attended equipped her with subject matter expertise (she was instructing students

on how to improve their speaking abilities) and teaching methods. She desired to be an expert

in her field of study. She also placed a premium on factors other than language competencies,

such as subject matter knowledge and methods, resulting in the development of a positive

professional identity.

Hong was not present at the CoP meeting where the issue was discussed. As a result, I

approached her and informed her of what we discussed during the CoP meeting. Hong found it

fascinating because the other participants shared her sentiments and concerns. This helped her

in confirming her conviction, as well as the knowledge gained from her participation in

professional development courses and her own teaching experience, that Vietnamese teachers

of English did not have to copy native speakers in order to have a native-like accent,

pronunciation, or speaking. The idea was that teachers needed to be proficient in using English

as a medium for communication and in instructing students on how to do the same. In this

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regard, I believe that Hong discovered her own solution to her dilemma of her language

proficiency. Hong shared with me during the follow-up interview that she was studying for the

IELTS test and was going to take the exam shortly. It was the only way she could assess her

English skills, bring her up to international standards, instil confidence in her students, and

overcome her own insecurities.

Similarly, Hai and Nga discussed their decision to take the IELTS test to gain a high

score. The CoP also helped them challenge the stereotype about the native speaker discourse.

Nga made no further mention of NESTs.

As I previously stated, the teacher participants expressed an interest in improving their

English language proficiency as a means of self-development. Although these teachers were

qualified to teach, certificates (like IELTS), were important in a degree-valuing society like

Vietnam. Each appeared to have identified an appropriate method or strategy for English

language progress.

5.5 Summary

Overall, the chapter has shown that the teachers’ professional identities were heavily shaped

by their perceptions of their position in relation to the discourse of English language

proficiency. It is worth noting that the notion that English teachers should have native-like

English comes from societal and student pressure, not from the distinction between NESTs and

NNESTs. This might be because several countries where English is a foreign language (e.g.,

Chile, Vietnam, and Mexico) have adopted general language proficiency standards such as the

C1 or C2 level of the CEFR as the measure of teachers’ classroom effectiveness and these

standards embody a deficit perspective in which non-native teachers of English seem to be

inherently inferior (Freeman, 2017).

Despite the power of the language proficiency discourse, the teachers in this study did

not perceive themselves as inferior to NESTs; rather they perceived themselves to be superior

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to NESTs in terms of the discourses of methodology, knowledge about students, and contextual,

cultural understanding, and being passionate about the job. The NEST-NNEST dichotomy

seemed to have little effect on the teacher participants in the study, indicating that they

developed “healthy” professional identities as Phan (2008) stated (see more in section 1.2 -

Chapter 1). This discovery provided a new lens through which to view teacher professional

identity formation, one that takes teacher voices into consideration holistically rather than

seeing them as a closed and the fixed dichotomy of NESTs/NNESTs. It emerged that students

also had a significant influence on the formation of teachers’ professional identities. The

finding thus challenges empirical studies conducted in EFL settings that found that EFL

teachers constructed their PIs within the native speaker discourse and that they saw native

speakers as the owner of the English language and regarded themselves negatively as “second

class” as far as language proficiency was concerned (Barahona, 2020; Choe, 2005; Huang,

2019; Lee, 2010). While this may be the case in some contexts, it is not necessarily the case

everywhere, and may be mitigated by positive identification with other elements of effective

EFL teaching.

The finding supports the studies by Le (2017, cited in Le, 2020), Richards (2017), and

Freeman (2017). According to these scholars, the relationship between English language

proficiency and effective English language teaching is questionable; high level of proficiency

does not necessarily correlate with teachers’ ability to teach in the language (see Chapter 1).

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 CHAPTER 6: RECONCILING PROFESSIONAL IDENTITIES AND TEACHING

PRACTICES THROUGH CONFLICTING DISCOURSES

6.1 Introduction

…it is not easy for CHC [Confucian Heritage Culture] people to replace Confucian

values by new values. If any change that conflicts with CHC values is imposed on CHC

teachers and students, it is likely that they only accept changes at the surface level…

(T. H. T. Pham, 2014, p. 174)

This quotation may explain the unsatisfactory result of the education reform from the traditional

Confucian rote-learning teacher-centred approach to the modern interactive student-centred

approach (Harman & Nguyen, 2010) in Vietnam in general and at the tertiary level in particular.

Over two decades since the implementation of the reforms, the traditional teaching and learning

modes still dominate Vietnamese higher education although plenty of PD programmes such as

training courses, workshops, and seminars have been organised to equip and assist teachers

with the knowledge and skills needed for implementing this so-called advanced method or

student-centred pedagogy (L. T. H. Tran, 2020). Among many reasons, the persistence of

Confucian styles of thinking among teachers has greatly hindered efforts to change learning

and teaching styles in Vietnamese tertiary classrooms. Conflicts between requirements for new

teaching and learning approaches and the traditional perceptions embedded in the teachers’

minds are reported. For example, T.Q.T Nguyen (2015) and T. H. T. Pham (T. H. T. Pham,

2008, 2010, 2011) reported that the belief that teachers are the most reliable source of

knowledge and the model for its construction in their students causes teachers to misinterpret

student-centred pedagogy concepts such as learner autonomy, group work, and cooperative

learning, making teachers reluctant to adopt these strategies in their classrooms. Contextual or

institutional factors such as using set textbooks, following a fixed syllabus, or focusing on tests

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and examinations are also reported as barriers to the implementation of innovative approaches.

A few studies, however, present teachers’ positive changes in professional identity (PI) and

professional practice (PP) in the transnational context. Phan Le Ha (2004), for example,

reported that two Vietnamese EFL teachers who returned from PD training courses in Australia

contested the stereotype of Western and Eastern teacher image/Self and Other and took

classroom culture into account to harmonise their roles and practice. This is similar to the

stories of the teacher participants in Le’s (2012) and Ha’s (2008) studies (see Chapters 2 and 3

for further information). However, it should be noted that the teachers who experienced changes

in perceptions and practice and challenged the stereotypes regarding traditional and innovative

approaches were those who returned to teach in Vietnam from an English-speaking country

after spending time studying in TESOL programmes and interacting with NESTs.

All these findings led me to question whether or not “surface” change is possible among

the teachers in this study who have spent their life working and living in Vietnam and just been

exposed to the constructivist approach through PD programmes. Is there any chance for them

to change, integrate, or synthesise their roles and practice as the participants in Ha’s or Le’s

study did? If yes, what would their change look like? What would contribute to their change?

What factors hinder or support them to fulfil their roles and pedagogy? And how does the CoP

as a PD model help them in this process?

The data from this study reveals that there are three main discourses shaping the teacher

participants’ professional identity and their teaching practices. The first discourse, the

constructivist teaching discourse, relates to the constructivist teaching and learning approach

which comes from Western education. Within this discourse, a teacher plays the roles as a

facilitator, an instructor, or a guide; a teacher should promote students’ individuality; empower

them; develop a learner – centred approach; apply integrated teaching, inquiry-based learning,

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and learning through play; and use small-class or -group learning, as well as student-initiated

and process-oriented activities.

The second discourse that seemed to influence participants’ PI relates to the Confucian

teaching and learning approach, referred to here as the Confucian teaching discourse.

Confucianism, which originated in ancient China as far back as 500 BC, views teachers as

holders of the highest standards of knowledge and morality. Teachers must be good role models

in their actions, speech, and lifestyles, otherwise, students cannot put their faith in them and

follow their teachings (T. L. Lu, 2017).

The last discourse shaping teachers’ PI is the institutional discourse in which teachers

and students are required to implement the institution’s rules, regulations, or policies in terms

of using textbooks, following the syllabus, focusing on examinations, and implementing new

teaching methods. For example, in the Vietnamese context, EFL teachers are given a textbook

and syllabus at the beginning of each semester. They are told to follow the syllabus and cover

the knowledge content in the textbook which target the tests and examinations. These three

discourses can be seen as in conflict with each other in some situations as the constructivist and

Confucian teaching discourses are at opposite ends of the continuum and often seen as mutually

exclusive, while institutional requirements such as set textbooks or exam-oriented teaching and

learning constrains the application or implementation of constructivist teaching, namely

applying a Communicative Language Teaching approach (CLT).

The pre-CoP data show that within these discourses, there are two different groups of

teachers. The first group consists of the more experienced teachers who are playing multiple

roles simultaneously such as facilitating, caring, respecting students (which feature in the

constructivist teaching discourse), controlling lessons, leading class, focusing on results (which

feature in the Confucian teaching discourse), and following the university’s requirements

regarding syllabus, class time, and students’ giving feedback (which feature in the institutional

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discourse). They appear to reconcile these discourses with few conflicts and expressed their

satisfaction with their roles and their teaching practices. The second group consists of the

teachers who struggled with being a facilitator (under the constructivist teaching discourse),

being a moral guide and knowledge authority (under the Confucian teaching discourse) and

following the rules and regulations within the institutional discourse. As a result, they felt a lot

of confusion and struggles in their professional identities and practices. Students seem to be the

reason for their confusions and tensions. After the CoP, the teachers resolved their conflicts in

a range of ways.

I start the chapter by discussing the ways the four experienced teachers of the first

group, Thu, Hong, Thi, and Khanh, managed the conflicting discourses, and then move on to

explore two teachers of the second group - Nga and Thuy - who struggled with the conflicting

discourses. The CoP process revealed how the first group supported and assisted the second

group to manage tensions. The data are analysed to see if there were any changes in the

professional identities and practices of the teachers of each group.

Although the interviews were conducted in Vietnamese, the teacher participants in the

study in some situations tended to use the terms such as facilitator, instructor, guide, student-

centred, or traditional in English as these terms were so common that everyone knew what they

were, or maybe they found it hard to think of an equivalent term in Vietnamese. Where this is

the case, the use of English is indicated by italics in the data excerpts. I would argue that the

language they used in relation to these terms partly revealed their professional identity as

discussed below.

6.2 Before the CoP

6.2.1 Managing the conflicting discourses

In this section, the strategies employed by Thu, Hong, Thi, and Khanh to maintain a positive

PI despite the conflicting discourses at the university are explored.

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Confucian teaching and institutional discourses

There was a common tendency among these teachers to refer to themselves as “traditional” (i.e.

Confucian) teachers and link it to the institutional discourse. Thu, for example, asserted:

Yes, I am still a bit traditional, because, although students in my class can work in

groups or do extra assignments apart from the textbook or do some tasks that require

them to think critically, it is I who decides the learning tasks, asks them to do the work.

They do not discover the problem or knowledge by themselves. So, I still mainly

transmit knowledge. [Thu-Pre-interview]

Thu defined herself as a “traditional” teacher because she was aware that she made all teaching

and learning decisions rather than empowering students to do so. She stated her main task was

still transmitting knowledge. In this way, she seemed to engage in features of Confucian

discourse. The word “still” indicated that, although exposed to constructivist teaching due to

PD participation, she had not totally changed her teaching pedagogy yet as she maintained the

“traditional” or teacher-centred approach in her classroom. When describing to what extent she

was traditional, Thu used the word “a bit”, showing that she did not view herself as a totally

traditional teacher; rather, she seemed to adapt within the Confucian discourse.

Thu also pointed out some factors related to institutional discourse that kept her from

creating more activities for students to help them initiate their knowledge:

Once a week, at the set time I go to class to provide students with the knowledge

mentioned in the syllabus. I want to do more activities in class, but the syllabus is

fixed…I cannot do much… [Thu-Pre-interview].

The data shows that Thu was aware of the tensions between the institutional, constructivist, and

Confucian teaching discourses. Within the constructivist teaching discourse, Thu wanted to

create activities to engage students in class. Within the institutional discourse, she had to stick

to a schedule and syllabus. Within the Confucian teaching discourse, she led the class based on

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her own decisions. She did not idealise one discourse and negate others but tried to work best

within the three discourses.

Hong and Thi had in common that they often used “traditional” methods when teaching

students at low English levels. According to Hong, these students tended to view teachers as

“Mr/Mrs Know All”, wanting knowledge from teachers, thus she “mainly imparted knowledge

to them and gave them correct answers for each question or exercise [she] assigned them to do”

[Hong-Pre-interview]. These students in Hong’s description seemed passive and had

difficulties in learning English due to their low English level. Thus, in their eyes, Hong played

the role of a knowledge expert or an authority of knowledge. It is likely that these students

positioned themselves and teachers in the Confucian discourse, and Hong took up this

positioning. The data also reveals that Hong had knowledge of the students and believed that

using “traditional” methods was appropriate for their characteristics and needs. It can be seen

that Hong did not resist the positioning of a traditional teacher, possibly because it helped her

attain the image of a good teacher (a knowledge expert) in the students’ eyes. This suggests

that within the Confucian teaching discourse, Hong is capable of critically analysing the

discourse and exerting some control over it by using it to her own advantage (see section 2.2.3

– Chapter 2).

Thi stated that she “designed and did almost all the tasks in low-English level class

while students just listened to [her] lecture or did what [she] required them to do because of

their low English level” [Thi-Pre-interview]. For Thi, students’ poor speaking skills and limited

vocabularies constrained them to be involved in the class activities. Like Hong, Thi understood

her students and their challenges in learning English, and she also believed that using traditional

methods was needed to cater for them. Simultaneously both Hong and Thi still applied some

features of constructivist teaching (e.g., allowing students to work in groups, designing more

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tasks, developing critical thinking skills) in line with students’ English level, needs, and

demand.

While Thu, Hong, and Thi oriented their teaching pedagogy (transmitting knowledge)

towards the Confucian teaching discourse due to the institutional discourse (including students’

English level, time constraints, and syllabus), Khanh demonstrated his Confucian style of

thinking in the way he dealt with students’ behaviours. Khanh offered the following an example

to illustrate his approach:

One student in my class… said to me that he was the vocabulary champion as he

finished the task that I assigned in just a few minutes. I think I should do something to

give the student a message that he still needs to learn something in class. I then came

up with the idea to challenge him. I told him that if he could solve the quiz I gave him,

he would not need to go to class. If he couldn’t, he would retake the course. That student

thought for a while, and soon he refused my suggestion. I think he would not dare to

behave like that next time. [Khanh-Pre-interview]

In the excerpt, Khanh describes the student’s over-confidence as inappropriate behaviour that

challenged his authority as the teacher. He felt he needed to do something to help his student

remain modest and maintain proper learning attitudes in class. In this way, Khanh can be seen

as constructing himself as a moral guide. As described with regard to the language proficiency

discourse in Chapter 5, Khanh also had a different way of thinking from the rest of the teachers.

According to him, English was a tool and EFL teachers should be confident enough with their

English language proficiency to train students to use that tool effectively and accept the

possibility that students might become even more proficient users than teachers with the help

of teachers’ scaffolding. This way of thinking positively influenced his sense of efficacy and

identity. In this respect, his professional identity was not aligned to the Confucian teaching

discourse as he challenged teachers’ role as the knowledge authority. It is interesting that Khanh

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did not view himself as the highest standard of knowledge, which made him move away from

the Confucian teaching discourse. However, the fact that he took it upon himself to guide

students’ morals brought him back to it. He seemed to consider it his job to ensure students did

not become over-confident. The way Khanh talked about these roles did not show any conflict,

which suggests that he was able to reconcile different aspects of the discourses available to

fashion his professional identity.

Balancing the constructivist teaching and institutional discourses

In defining themselves within the Confucian teaching discourse, all these teachers asserted that

it was institutional discourses and students’ needs which influenced their teaching practices.

However, they also expressed ideas and described practices more closely aligned to the

constructivist teaching discourse. In their pre-interviews, Hong and Thi said they did not mind

whether they were “traditional” because what they cared about most was students. Thu and

Hong both claimed that they let students work in pairs or groups, gave them extra assignments

apart from textbooks, and provided them with critical thinking tasks. Both Khanh and Thi stated

that they tried to create a comfortable and engaging learning environment for students to

acquire knowledge and eliminate stress when they learned a new language. Some strategies

they used included organising fun warm-up activities, catering to students’ English levels,

supporting them whenever they struggle or need help, avoiding long periods of sitting down

and instead making students move around class, and encouraging them to speak as much as

possible. In this way, Khanh and Thi also claimed the way they adapted the constructivist

teaching approach to meet students’ different learning styles.

According to Thu, she conducted students’ need analysis in an informal way by asking

them in class about what they liked, disliked, and expected to learn. This suggests that she cared

about students, their interests, and their expectations. She also asked what they liked or disliked

about her teaching as a way of showing a potential to change her teaching methods to cater for

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students. Thu added, when raising a discussion topic, she encouraged students to generate

various ways of thinking.

When I raise a problem for students to discuss, they can understand in various ways,

each way of their understanding has its advantage. I do not force them to follow one

way of thinking as mentioned in the theory of being a facilitator or instructor…[Thu-

Pre-interview]

The extract reveals Thu’s use of the original language “facilitator” or “instructor” as evidence

of the influence of the constructivist teaching discourse on her. She clarified such terms with

her own words – not force students and allow for multiple ways of thinking.

Like Thu, Hong said in the pre-interview that she always let students feel free to express

their opinions and never forced them to learn if they did not want to. Instead, she tried to come

up with different approaches to make learning more interesting and suitable for them.

According to her, some students tended to not want to learn in class as well as at home. Instead

of forcing them to join in-class activities, she respected these students and gave them more

homework.

I respect their different learning styles. In my opinion, learning a language is a process

in which students only acquire knowledge and skills in a comfortable environment and

close relationship between teacher and students. Teachers, therefore, might stay away

from textbooks to more focus on students and look into what happens to them to

understand them and to approach them better. This originates from what I have learned

in various PD programmes and from what I have read. [Hong-Pre-interview]

The data suggest that Hong was applying a student-centred approach and defining herself

within the constructivist teaching discourse.

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The approaches outlined by Thi resemble Hong’s in that she would immediately change her

way of teaching when she saw her students becoming tired or bored in class. Specifically, she

did not use the textbook, rather she asked students to go outside to work in pairs or groups

instead of sitting in class in order to keep them awake and more excited for the lesson.

Hong’s and Thi’s flexibility in using different teaching materials and interacting with

students is also reflected in Khanh’s case. Khanh recalled:

When I was a young novice teacher, I only concentrated on knowledge content in

textbooks, covered all sections of textbooks, and did not care about students’ needs and

interests. Over years of teaching, I become more experienced. I’m flexible in using

textbooks to suit students’ English levels. If I see any parts of the textbook unsuitable

for students’ level, I will omit and use alternative materials to assist them. My flexibility

in using textbooks depends on the permission from the programme I teach. Some

programmes such as the mainstream programmes require teachers to strictly follow the

syllabus within the time limit while others, such as higher education programmes, even

though they have a syllabus, too, still allow teachers to flexibly teach students... I often

walk beside them to show them I care. [Khanh-Pre-interview]

The data suggest that moving from novice to experienced had greatly influenced Khanh’s

professional identity and teaching pedagogy. As a beginning teacher, the institutional and

Confucian teaching discourses greatly shaped his professional identity. As an experienced

teacher, by contrast, Khanh constructed his identity as a student-centred teacher who flexibly

adapts his teaching approach to cater for students’ preferences. It is likely that his PD

participation and constructivist teaching discourse exposure impacted his beliefs and practice.

His description here aligns with what he stated in Chapter 5 that EFL teachers should guide

students to use English effectively and accept a possibility that students might be better than

teachers in terms of language use. Khanh put students as the centre of his learning design and

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solutions. Moreover, his description did not conflict with the professional identity as a moral

guide he represented above. Thus, Khanh viewed himself as a teacher who provided students

with both moral and academic guidance based on their needs and the institutional discourse

available to him. Overall, Khanh’s positioning paid off: “I have a better relationship with

students; my students support my teaching more in the way they more listen to what I ask them

to do in class.” and “I think my students evaluate me as a good teacher”. [Khanh-Pre-interview]

The data indicate that Khanh was confident in his professional identity and had found

an appropriate way to reconcile the conflicting discourses.

Being their own ways

The way Thu stated “I am not a facilitator” indicates that she did not admire the constructivist

teaching concept and did not tend to use it to define herself. Rather, she preferred using her

own words - “I base my teaching on students” she responded when I asked her to describe her

teaching methods. The difference in her language use indicates that her role was slightly

different from what was labelled in constructivist teaching. It was due to the institutional

discourse that somehow limited her to act exactly the teacher role defined by the constructivist

teaching discourse.

Similarly, the way Khanh described his teaching method or typical lesson made me

think that his pedagogy was student-centred. I wanted to check my thinking by asking him:

I: Does it mean that your method is “lấy sinh viên làm trung tâm” or student-centred?

Khanh: I am not sure if it is student-centred, but I always based my teaching on students.

I take students into account when I make decisions in my teaching.

[Khanh-Pre-interview]

I used both the Vietnamese expression “lấy sinh viên làm trung tâm” and the English term

“student-centred” to ask Khanh. Khanh surprised me when he responded, “I am not sure if it is

student-centred…” This suggested something more nuanced than a dichotomy between

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student-centred and teacher-centred in his response. Like Thu, Khanh defined in his own way

as “take students into account when I make decisions in my teaching”. The meaning of the

former – student-centred – and the latter - his own definition – seem different. The former put

students at the centre: within the constructivist teaching discourse, students might decide what

to learn, and teachers had equal status with students. However, in his own definition, students

were not at the centre in the same way: it was he who decided what to teach and what to learn,

but his decisions were made in relation to students’ needs. In this way he can be said to put

students at the centre of his teaching decisions and design.

These teachers did not define themselves within a single discourse – Confucian,

constructivist, or institutional, rather there seemed to be a sense of hybridity in their

professional identity. These potentially conflicting and mutually exclusive discourses were

interwoven to shape their professional identity and impact their practice. They were aware that

they needed to change or reform because of requirements from institutions, government, and

society (the constructivist teaching discourse), however, some existing institutional discourses

hindered them from accomplishing the reform tasks, so they justified, modified, and adapted

these conflicting discourses to best suit students and their Vietnamese culture (the Confucian

teaching discourse). They did not wholly admire the constructivist teaching discourse although

they orientated their teaching towards it; they did not reject the Confucian teaching discourse

because they took the culture and context into account, and they did not strictly follow the

institutional discourse because they found a need to change the given guidelines to motivate

students. Despite dealing with these discourses in different ways, they all had a similar

approach where they critically picked up the suitable features of each discourse for their

teaching situation as well as for the students they were teaching. Specifically, they imparted

knowledge from textbooks but still respected students’ different voices. They followed

textbooks but designed extra activities to encourage students or to cater for students’ needs.

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They were close to students but still guided students’ moral behaviours. They required students

to do tasks but created an engaging and comfortable environment for them to learn. These

teachers did not tend to use the concept of constructivist teaching to describe themselves. This

meant that they tried to reconcile or find nuanced ways of adapting their approaches and making

them suitable for their teaching context. All in all, this suggests that the teachers identify

themselves in a third way, a hybrid way - a combination of the three discourses available to

them.

6.2.2 Struggling with three discourses

Unlike the three teachers discussed above, this section explores the way Thuy and Nga

experienced conflicts with the three discourses.

Belief

The data showed that both Thuy and Nga idealised the constructivist teaching discourse and

tried to negate the Confucian teaching discourse in defining their professional identities.

I always keep in my mind that I am not a teacher who provides students with only

knowledge, but an instructor, facilitator and inspirer who makes students aware that

learning English is necessary for them and helps them like to learn this subject. [Thuy-

Pre-interview]

The extract indicates that Thuy identified herself as a teacher who motivated students to learn

English with love and passion, not as a knowledge transmitter. She defined her professional

identity in favour of the constructivist teaching discourse and tended to reject the Confucian

teaching discourse.

Like Thuy, Nga positioned her professional identity as a facilitator.

I want to be a facilitator, not a tutor. A tutor forces students to learn and inputs much

knowledge for students whereas a facilitator is like a guide who guides students. A

facilitator defines that students will learn with him or her. A facilitator helps students

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 know how to learn English so that students can spend the rest of their time studying at

home. I believe that a good teacher is a good facilitator, not a tutor… [Nga-Pre-

interview]

Nga’s use of English terms confirmed her admiration for the constructivist teaching discourse

and showed that she had a negative view of the Confucian teaching discourse in relation to the

image of a tutor. She conceives of tutors and facilitators as binary concepts where a facilitator

helps and guides students to learn while a tutor just pours knowledge in and forces students to

learn. She appeared to resist the identity of a Confucian teacher as well as the Confucian

approaches to her teaching because the constructivist teaching discourse, in her view, was

advanced and superior. Nga also held the belief that only being a good facilitator would make

her a good teacher, which is similar to Thuy’s belief. Nga further talked about why she used

the constructivist teaching concept:

I learned so much useful knowledge from the TESOL course such as facilitator and

communicative language teaching (CLT). I have to say that this knowledge helps shape

my teaching because I have no prior teaching experience…[Nga-Pre-interview]

This indicates that Nga’s TESOL training shaped notions of being a facilitator as an idea, not

as her lived experience. It might also be that because she was a novice teacher, she had no basis

for critiquing this approach. This led to her using English terminology to define herself and

develop an uncritical view. Nga’s description of her teacher role revealed that she preferred to

be described within the constructivist teaching discourse rather than the Confucian teaching

discourse.

Nga and Thuy both tended to explicitly refer to two discourses as a conflicting and

mutually exclusive dichotomy and defined themselves within the constructivist teaching

discourse.

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Practice

I asked Thuy more about her lessons and classes and below is her response:

In my class, I orientate my teaching toward a student-centred approach. I often prepare

and design activities for students…such as pair/group work or communicative

activities…. but I use them more often in higher quality programmes because students

are classified in class that suit their English level, the class size is small, and the time is

sufficient. All this makes it easy for me to organise activities for students. In other

programmes like the mainstream programme, a large number of students in class make

it impossible for me to apply such activities. I only use warm-up activities at the

beginning of the lesson to teach them vocabulary. The rest of the time students are

required to do exercises in textbooks. Otherwise, we cannot keep up with the syllabus.

In general, students have to follow my instructions. To be honest, I do not believe that

they can prepare for part of the lesson on their own. If I let them prepare and they fail,

it wastes my time and other students’ time…. Too many things need to be taught and

learned in a certain time. [Thuy-Pre-interview]

The extract shows the institutional discourse clearly influenced Thuy’s decision-making about

what students learned and what she taught, and the sense of conflict between these practices

and her desire to be a facilitator. Here she describes needing to take control of the class to

minimise failure, time-wasting, and guarantee that the syllabus is followed. Within the

institutional discourse, Thuy tried to compromise to maintain her professional identity as a

facilitator or a good teacher. On the one hand, she created activities such as

pair/group/communicative/warm-up activities that were often seen in a student-centred class.

On the other hand, she applied rules and regulations regarding class time or syllabus that were

set by the institution. The institutional discourse was described by her as something fixed that

she must follow. She did not empower students as it would be risk failure and waste time as

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she then would not be able to keep up with the syllabus. In this way, she appeared to care more

about how to fulfil the institutional rules rather than meet students’ needs. She asked students

to do what she thought was good for them as she did not believe in students’ ability. In general,

she acted as the authority of knowledge and the classroom controller. This significantly showed

a mismatch between what she said and what she did in practice. On the one hand, she defined

herself as a facilitator; on the other hand, she acted as the powerful teacher making all decisions

in class. This mismatch between her actions and her ideology caused tensions and struggles in

her teaching practice:

When students go to class late, I often tell them that they interrupt people including me

and other classmates. They are additionally unable to listen to the knowledge that I

introduce at the beginning of the lesson – they miss the theory part with the salient

information of the lesson. As a result, they will make mistakes in the practice part which

is hard to correct later. I always teach theory knowledge first and then ask students to

practice for the rest of the time based on the knowledge I provide them before. [Thuy-

Pre-interview]

Thuy’s belief that students had to rely on teachers’ knowledge otherwise they would miss

salient knowledge and make mistakes suggests that despite her belief in the constructivist

teaching approaches, she tended to view herself as the knowledge holder or the only source of

information in the classroom. This aligns with the way she previously positioned students. The

extract also indicates that she was time-pressured by the institutional discourse. When students

were late for class, she got angry with them. Two reasons might explain her anger. First, she

cared about students’ learning, wanting them to witness the content of the whole lecture to fulfil

the tasks at their best. In this sense, she probably thought that she helped the students. Second,

she might be afraid she could not fulfil the responsibilities of a teacher within the institutional

discourse (not keeping up with the syllabus).

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 According to Thuy, there were two groups of students. The first one included “good

students” who followed her instructions and liked her teaching. The second one was students

with disruptive behaviours. She often got “angry with students who had any disruptive

behaviours such as arriving in class late, chatting in class, or not being involved in classroom

activities” [Thuy-Pre-interview]. She considered them troublemakers and she knew that this

group of students did not like her, viewing her as a “strict and grumpy teacher”. In response to

them, Thuy would “criticise them, watch their actions carefully, and punish them by reducing

their attendance marks or not allowing them to take the mid-term or final tests” which meant

that they had to retake the course [Thuy-Pre-interview]. Her explanation for using marks to

punish students was because it was marks that made students most concerned. It is said that in

a society valuing degrees like Vietnam, students often study for good results and good degrees,

so marks are vital for them (Minh Giang, 2019).

Thuy criticised and blamed students for being lazy, not understanding the importance

of learning English, and not understanding the good things she was doing for them. It seemed

that in dealing with students with disruptive behaviours, Thuy tended to take up the position

from a Confucian teaching approach where she played the role of a moral guide, taking

responsibility for students’ proper behaviours. Her punishment towards students was to make

them have the right attitudes towards their learning. That is why she asserted several times in

the interview that she only did good things for students, wanting them to make progress in

learning English and love this subject. Clearly there is a mismatch between her teaching beliefs

and practices causing conflicts and tensions.

Thuy positioned students as low-ability learners and maintained a power relationship

between students and teacher - students were always bad while as a teacher she was always

good. Such an essentialist stance or a stereotype about students may limit her to open up another

view about diversity and hybridity of students’ identities. How she described herself and what

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she did in practice conflicted. On the one hand, she viewed herself as a facilitator, instructor,

and inspirer which fit in the constructivist teaching discourse. On the other hand, Thuy did not

consistently apply these roles in practice. She maintained a Confucian style of thinking and

doing, specifically the belief that teachers had authority and students needed to follow teachers’

instructions as teachers always wanted the best for students. When students showed their

resistance, Thuy blamed them and punished them as a way of showing her authority over them

as well as her responsibility for their bad behaviours.

Her use of power and punishment of students created their resistance – not following

her instructions and behaving badly. As not being empowered, students might take little agency

in her classroom; she made all decisions, students just followed her. Moreover, the discourses

that were in conflict for Thuy created contradictions in what she said. Although she was aware

of the impact of the institutional discourse on her teaching, her preference for the constructivist

teaching discourse, rejection for the Confucian teaching discourse, her inflexibility in applying

the institutional discourse, and her stereotypical view of students all kept her from

accomplishing what she wanted to be and to do, leading to tensions under these discourses as

well as dissatisfaction with her teaching. The games and activities Thuy used, which made it

sound like she used a student-centred approach, did not guarantee a real student-centred class

because, whether she liked it or not, her thinking was strongly influenced by Confucianism.

She seemed to adhere to the so-called student-centred approach only on the surface. Thuy’s

case seemed to be a good illustration for the quotation cited at the beginning of this chapter.

Although Thuy tried to define herself within the constructivist teaching discourse, Confucian

values were firmly lodged deep inside her mind. When some features of constructivist teaching

conflicted with the Confucian values, her change was just on the surface.

Nga also demonstrated that she often used CLT approaches in class. She designed and

organised games or extra activities to create a fun and exciting environment for students to

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study. She believed that an exciting learning environment encouraged students to interact and

speak out. She did not like the silence of students in class as it meant that they were passive.

Nga also indicated that she approached students with a friendly teaching style, using informal

language to communicate with them because her belief was that when she was friendly with

students, they would be more open to talk. These approaches are in line with CLT. However,

she found it “hard because this term [she was] teaching receptive skills – reading and listening”

[Nga-Pre-interview]. From her perspective, teaching reading or listening skills only focused on

reading or listening itself, and there was a lack of speaking or communication in such reading

and listening classes. This also implied that in her opinion, CLT approach was mainly applied

in speaking classes, to promote speaking skills, not other skills like reading and listening. This

might indicate her misinterpretation of the CLT approach, leading to her struggles in practice.

As Nga defined herself in line with the constructivist teaching discourse, she tried to use the

constructivist approaches (including CLT) that she learned in her TESOL course. Thus, CLT

became the dominant discourse influencing Nga’s professional identity and practice. Nga took

up the identity of a CLT teacher. However, her misconception of CLT made her struggle in

practice.

Unlike Thuy and other teachers who regarded institutional factors such as test and

examination orientation, time limits, and syllabus as constraints on their teaching, Nga just saw

these factors as things that somehow consumed her time and energy in lesson planning. She

could manage by staying up late because she was new and very enthusiastic; she did not mind

staying up late for lesson preparation and she had plenty of ideas for activity design (see

Chapter 4). What made her stressed and confused in her teaching largely related to students’

feedback.

I know the so-called student-centred [approach]…. this makes me afraid of students’

feedback. I try many times not to think about it but cannot...[Nga-Pre-interview]

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 I define myself as a friendly teacher using a friendly teaching style and informal

language to communicate with students in class. However, I often tell myself not to

speak like that because it is not appropriate for a teacher to talk like that. Students

probably evaluate me with regard to my language use. [Nga-Pre-interview]

My biggest problem is how to work with students who are both lazy and disobedient.

My style is not to be strict to them or not push them so I can't do that with them. When

I am too angry with them, I say nothing, just let them do exercises. That is why I get

stressed. [Nga-Pre-interview]

At the tertiary level, students’ feedback for teachers is collected at the end of each semester by

the university and given back to teachers after being synthesised. Students evaluate teachers on

multiple criteria such as their manner, attitude, appearance, teaching activities and

effectiveness. Nga’s fear of students’ negative feedback and her reaction to students in class

showed that rather than focus on their learning, motivating them to learn, she tended to try to

please students so that she would be liked and receive positive feedback. She tried many times

not to focus on their feedback but could not escape from that way of thinking. Like Thuy, Nga

wanted to develop her professional identity as a facilitator of students’ learning. She was

friendly to them, encouraged them to speak out, and promoted the CLT approach. However,

influenced by the Confucian teaching discourse that dominates Vietnamese culture, Nga was

not confident to act as a facilitator. This created tension between her belief and practice. I argue

that, like Thuy, Nga rejected the Confucian teaching discourse in defining herself, but it was

hard for her to take up constructivist teaching in the Confucian context. Both Nga and Thuy

were in the process of negotiating their professional identity and practice and struggled in

practice to reconcile the three conflicting discourses.

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 The two groups of teachers differed in the ways they negotiated the conflicts: the

experienced group were critical of the three discourses and found ways to reconcile their roles

and teaching to negotiate all three. By contrast, the novice group tended to be fixed on the

constructivist teaching discourse but struggled to balance this with the institutional discourse

and the Confucian teaching discourse. The gap between their beliefs and their teaching

practices made them confused, conflicted, and stressed. Such tensions might also be related to

other discourses such as the experience discourse (Chapter 4) and English language proficiency

discourse (Chapter 5).

6.3 During the CoP

As has been described, both Nga and Thuy had trouble with students. Thuy used punishments

as a way to make students learn in her classrooms while Nga tried to please students to receive

positive feedback. The CoP process helped these teachers deal with their struggles to reconcile

the three discourses. Across the CoP meetings, students became one of the main topics of

discussion between novice and experienced teachers. This helped novice teachers like Nga and

Thuy in managing relationships with students (including disruptive behaviours) as well as

reconceptualising some terms of constructivist teaching that they may have misinterpreted.

6.3.1 Managing relationships with students

For the very first CoP meetings, Nga appeared to actively ask questions and suggest topics for

discussion. She expressed her great concern about student-related issues in the initial meetings.

The topic “How to deal with students who behave badly”, suggested by Nga, became the first

topic to be agreed upon by the CoP members and was discussed in the first CoP meeting. In

this CoP, Nga shared that when she read the articles sent to all the members before the meeting,

she found the authors tended to use the term “students with disruptive behaviours” or “difficult

students” rather than “students who behave badly”, so the CoP members all decided to edit the

topic title into “How to deal with students with disruptive behaviours”. In this way, the CoP

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provided Nga with reading materials that allowed her to familiarise herself with the topic for

discussion and help her prepare for the meeting. It was my impression that Nga was really

attentive, well-prepared, and active in the CoP. Despite having some experiences in this topic,

she still lacked strategies to deal with it (see more in Chapter 4). The CoP offered new ideas,

solutions, and resources to think about and possibly implement in her practice.

In the CoP, Nga actively raised questions about a topic she was particularly concerned

about, i.e., students’ feedback. Below is an example of how Nga presented this issue and of

how the CoP members provided support for Nga.

Nga: How do you build up a teacher image that students both fear and respect? I’m young.

I cannot be tough to them. I fear their feedback. I’m often soft-hearted when they beg me

not to mark them absent for example….

Thi: You need time Nga!

Thu: I see students’ fearing teachers is not because teachers are difficult, strong and strict.

It depends on subject knowledge of the teachers.

Thuy: Yeah, their fearing based on teachers’ knowledge and problem – solving ability.

Nga: I am afraid of students’ feedback.

Hong: You know, about students’ feedback to teachers… “teaching job is to have to

please everyone”, you cannot satisfy all students.

I: Agree! You should talk to yourself that you might satisfy half the class.

Thi: Half class is a great job. Don’t expect more.

[CoP 3]

In the extract, Nga raised two issues: having students’ respect and dealing with her fear of

students’ feedback. While Thu and Thuy suggested ways for the former issue (which are

analysed in Chapter 4), Hong focused on the latter – students’ feedback. Hong suggested the

idea of “làm dâu trăm họ” (daughter-in-law of hundreds of families). This Vietnamese saying

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is commonly used in the teaching discourse. It talks about the difficulties and pressures that

teachers had to face, such as dealing with students in class and with other stakeholders at

schools and in society (for example, school leaders, students’ parents, or government policies).

Hong implied that Nga should not try to please every student; she should avoid perfectionism

and focus on her responsibilities of teaching (e.g., knowledge and skills as Thuy and Thu

suggested). Other CoP members agreed with Hong’s suggestion.

Nga’s fear of students’ feedback might come from the way she conceptualised the

“student-centred approach” as well. She believed that she put students at the centre in class by

finding ways to satisfy them by compromising with them. For example, in the extract, she said

it was hard for her to refuse students when they begged her. The CoP helped her reconceptualise

the constructivist concept through various discussions. Thuy’s response in particular, which is

discussed below, may have had an influence on her thinking.

It can be seen that before the CoP, Nga admitted that dealing with students was the

hardest thing she encountered (see more in Chapter 4). She had developed a fear of judgment

of whether or not her language use, manner, attitude, and teaching were appropriate for a

teacher. She wanted to receive positive feedback from and be liked by students as, for her, this

proved she was a good teacher. As analysed in section 6.2.2, this way of thinking, influenced

by the Confucian teaching discourse as well as the institutional discourse, limited her teaching

effectiveness. Each of her concerns or problems raised was responded to enthusiastically and

constructively by the CoP members as analysed in Chapter 4 and in the above extract of this

chapter. Nga felt free to share her teaching problems while other teachers gave her constructive,

genuine responses based on their experiences and knowledge. For Nga, communication with

more experienced teachers played a crucial role in the way she perceived and shaped her

professional identity as a teacher. The CoP with like-minded colleagues with whom she could

test ideas and exchange opinions, which is not always easy to find (Van Lankveld et al., 2017),

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may have helped her reduce the time period that a novice teacher often struggles with. It is

interesting that while the CoP served to reassure Nga’s PI, it also served to challenge Thuy, and

both were done in a supportive and caring manner. The following section is about how the CoP

challenged and supported Thuy.

Punishment by marks

In CoP 1, after sharing plenty of stories about students, an experienced teacher, Thi, led to the

case of Thuy. I should note that Thuy and all the experienced teachers in the CoP have known

each other for a long time (Thuy has been teaching at the university for 10 years) and we

belonged to some specific teaching groups. Thus, Thuy and Thi were in the same teacher group

of speaking skills, Thuy and Khanh were in the group for teaching listening skills in the

previous terms, and we all belonged to the General English group in the mainstream

programme. Moreover, Thuy and Thu are relatives and close friends as well as colleagues. We

often taught separated English skills to the same students in higher educational programmes.

This meant that we have heard stories about each other from our students. Below is the extract

of a conversation between Thuy and the members.

Thi: Thuy, the serious expression on your face seems to frighten students!

Hong, Thu, Khanh: Exactly! You seem to frighten them!

Hong: Students seemed to fear you, Thuy! They said to me that when they did not do

homework, you would punish them by deducting their marks. Some students thought

you ticked them absent for 3 lessons meaning that they were not allowed to attend the

final exam and had to retake the course, so they quit your class. I don’t think you should

threaten them; rather you should encourage them, with marks.

I: Have you ever given them good marks?

Thuy: Only students who did well in class.

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Thi: At this point I think you should change yourself a little bit. To be honest, in my

opinion you can threaten high school students, but for university students we should not

behave like that.

Thuy: But when listening to their speaking, I cannot smile (she meant they did not

perform well so she could not smile)

Thi: But we still have to motivate them, if they clap their hands to encourage their

classmates, let them do it, don’t say: Nothing was good, so why do you clap your hands?

(In class when one student went to the board to do his/her speaking task, other students

often clapped as a way of supporting him/her).

Thu: I agree!

Thi: You should move from negative to more positive thinking.

Thu: Especially, in speaking skills, you should motivate them more.

Hong: We are still influenced by Vietnamese culture, focusing primarily on others’

errors, faults, and mistakes while ignoring the good things of others. Like in writing

skills I taught, when doing peer-checking, students only found their mates’ mistakes.

Thi, Khanh: Thuy’s problem is that you put too much emphasis on mark punishment

making students fear studying.

Other teachers: You only need to change this because you are doing everything well.

Thuy: But we can mark 10% for students’ attendance, why cannot I deduct this when

they do not do homework?

All senior teachers: That is your fixed mindset!

I: Your purpose is to make students better. Why don’t you think of other ways to

motivate them?

Hong: You think one way, but students think another way. The two ways do not meet,

so the lesson is not successful.

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 Thuy: But I motivate them by games and candies?

Hong: But students do not like these, they like not being marked absent when they did

not do homework.

Thuy: They must do homework because I cannot deal with all the exercises and

homework in class.

Hong: Research shows that students have various learning styles (….), we should be

flexible in teaching them.

All senior teachers: Honestly, you should change yourself, as students really fear to

attend your lesson.

[CoP 1]

The long extract shows that Thuy received extremely direct messages from the CoP members.

We pointed out that the problem with threatening students with marks was that it frightened

them and did not motivate them to learn. When students did not perform well in her speaking

lessons, Thuy did not praise them because she was not satisfied with their performance. She

showed her anger when other students clapped to support one of their friends who was called

to go to the board and make their speech in front of the class. She thought they did nothing

well, so the class should not clap. From the CoP members’ experience, we all agreed that Thuy

should not react like this. It was not working for her students because they felt fearful of her.

The CoP members suggested Thuy should encourage them by giving marks for what they have

done well rather than subtract marks for what they done wrong and generally change her

negative thinking to positive thinking. Several reasons for these suggestions were listed.

First, they are university students, so they are grown-ups. Thi meant that teaching these

students was different from teaching high school students. Other teachers also agreed that it

was hard to impose teachers’ authority on students because they were grown-ups. Thuy had the

experience of teaching high school students before, so she probably treated university students

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like high school students. In CoP 5, Thuy admitted that she was influenced by the discourse of

teaching at high school when she “tightly followed the coursebook and students’ test results”

[CoP 5]. She normally taught everything in the book and strictly asked students to do what she

required them to do.

Second, Hong said that as Vietnamese teachers, we were still influenced by Vietnamese

culture or the Confucian discourse, focusing primarily on others’ errors, faults, and mistakes

while ignoring the good things. Hong also stated students had various learning styles, so

teachers should be flexible in teaching. In this way, Hong seemed to point out the root of the

problem – the cultural factor which is embedded in the teachers’ mind. As Vietnamese teachers,

teachers are still influenced by the Confucian discourse; teachers should notice that to

understand what really happens in their classroom so that they can develop appropriate methods

and approaches to cater for students.

We understood that what we said may hurt Thuy because no one wants to hear negative

things about themselves in public, so we used the language such as “to be honest”, “You only

need to change this because you are doing everything well” to soften the feedback. We

recognised Thuy’s strength, we expressed our honesty and told genuine stories which all aimed

to help Thuy to be better so that students would stop talking negatively about her. In this CoP,

we shared that students’ feedback impacted our reputation and might affect our opportunities

to teach in high-quality programmes which gave us higher pay. We mentioned stories in which

teachers after receiving negative feedback from a class were politely forced to stop their

teaching in that class by the programme leaders.

Receiving the direct messages from the CoP members, Thuy tried to resist being

positioned as a difficult or strict teacher by the CoP participants in a way similar to the way she

resisted the position of a grumpy and strict teacher assigned by students. Specifically, when

people talked about her serious facial expression that scared students, she resisted, “But when

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listening to their speaking, I cannot smile”. When people said she “put too much emphasis on

mark punishment making students fear studying”, she resisted, “But we can mark 10% for

students’ attendance, why cannot I deduct this when they do not do homework?” When people

advised her to motivate students with marks, she resisted, “But I motivate them by games and

candies?” When people pointed out that students did not like games and candies and they did

not like being marked absent when they did not do homework, Thuy resisted, “They must do

homework, as I cannot deal with all the exercises and homework in class”. The way the CoP

members and students positioned her conflicted with how she saw herself and she tried to save

face and protect her identity. Her resistance was therefore understandable.

My notes on this meeting from the artefact data indicated that although Thuy was not

happy to hear something negative about her and tried to defend herself, she listened attentively.

There may be three possible options for her attentive listening. First, the members talking to

her were experienced and senior teachers and knew her well. Thus, listening to them might help

her learn something from them. Second, as discussed in section 6.2, Thuy herself felt that there

was something wrong with her students and her class. She thought she was doing what was best

for students, but students expressed resistance in her lessons. She wanted students to like her

more but could not find the reason why they behaved disruptively. Therefore, listening to others

might provide her with solutions to the problem she had already identified herself. Third, the

CoP was a safe place where no one took control or had overall power. The above conversation

proves this when it shows the symmetry in power and solidarity. Tannen (1990) explained that

if one speaker repeatedly overlaps and another speaker repeatedly gives way, “the resulting

communication is asymmetrical, and the effect is domination, but if both speakers avoid

overlaps, or if both speakers overlap each other and win out equally, there is symmetry and no

domination” (p. 520). Speakers in the above extract avoided overlaps giving honest opinions

without making others feel ashamed. What the CoP members did was to help Thuy understand

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and accept why students performed or behaved poorly and offered strategies for how she could

have a better relationship with them.

After CoP 1, Thuy reflected in her writing journal “I’m very happy with the discussion.

The participants are open and give constructive comments on the situation…I myself receive a

lot of helpful advice in dealing with my students’ behaviours. I myself may behave/respond

negatively, which makes students stressed and demotivated” [Thuy-Ref1]. Her reflection

showed that she started to take the CoP members’ comments on board. She found their advice

“helpful”. She was aware that what people said was not to criticise her or to make her lose face.

Instead, they gave her “constructive” and honest feedback because they wanted her to be better.

Moreover, Hong was already aware of her problem with students.

In reflection 2, Thuy wrote, “the meeting was successful because I know a lot of

situations in which we need to be skilful in interacting with students. It’s an art, the art of giving

feedback so that it does not hurt students somehow…I will definitely apply the way to give

feedback to students in my teaching practice. I realised that I was strict and difficult in giving

feedback to students. I want to change myself to motivate students more” [Thuy-Ref2]. If

before the CoP, she repeatedly said that she did what was best for them and blamed students

for their disruptive behaviours, her reflection reveals an important change in Thuy’s perception

about herself and students – a different point of view. This probably challenged her current

professional identity and practice.

In CoP 3, Thuy excitedly talked to the CoP members about her positive change:

Thuy: I have already changed! I gave more generous marks to students.

Hong: It is the way you motivate your students. You know, when I looked back at the

high score of my writing paper which my university teacher gave, I felt motivated and

confident that I was able to write and thereby being able to teach writing skills until

now.

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 [CoP 3]

While Thuy talked about her new approach to marking, Hong seemed to give her more

challenges by saying that it was not just about marks, it was the way she motivated students.

Rather than focusing on marks – the representation of teachers’ power in class – teachers should

think about motivation. In this way, Hong gradually scaffolded Thuy to reach more closely to

the aim of teaching and thus help her deal with conflicting discourses.

6.3.2 Reinterpretation of the constructivist teaching concepts

In another CoP meeting, Thu advised that Thuy “should motivate students more because [she

was] teaching speaking skills” [CoP 5]. Thu pointed out that Vietnamese students often

struggled most with speaking skills. They felt insecure to speak and reluctant to speak if they

felt they might be judged by others. They did not want to lose face. While Thuy knew this, she

encountered conflicting discourses and held some misconceptions. Moreover, although finding

the CoP members’ suggestions helpful, Thuy might be not ready to change immediately. The

data from CoP 3 recorded her change (as shown above), however, the data also reveal that in

the other CoP meetings, she kept asking to clarify her confusions and tensions in the way she

dealt with students, which referred to some of her misinterpretations.

Teacher-centred vs. Student-centred

Thuy learned from CLT theory that teachers should not focus too much on mistakes (e.g.,

grammar and pronunciation) or interrupt students while they were speaking. However, she

found that students could not improve their speaking unless she stopped to correct them. Hong

responded Thuy as follows:

Teachers should not put too high expectations and then get stressed because students

may have different targets. For example, one student sets his target of getting 9 points

in speaking skills while another sets only 5 and thinks it is enough for him. And you,

do you think you try hard to push him to achieve more than he needs?

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 [CoP 2]

Hong implied that Thuy should be too strict to force students to reach what she wanted them to

gain even though it was not what students wanted. Put differently, Hong reminded Thuy to

clearly distinguish between students’ needs and teachers’ desires.

In another meeting, Hong repeated her experience that students had different learning

styles and learning targets that may not align with the teacher’s intentions. She realised that

students’ sense of success might not relate to their test results or marks. Thus, she did not force

students to learn. Instead, she often gave them positive feedback and complimented them when

they were able to fulfil the tasks. She stressed that students only picked up a language if they

felt secure, comfortable, and engaged. Thuy and Hong continued the conversation as follows:

Thuy: I did it totally differently from you. You gave them an opportunity while I did not.

Hong: Uhm you know, after all, students go to class to gain something. If possible, don’t

let them retake the course. Retaking the course would impose pressure on them and their

finances. It is quite miserable for them, isn’t it? More importantly, we should base our

teaching on their learning needs and targets and express our care to them.

Thuy: But they did not go to class…

Hong: I know it is hard to change immediately, but soon you will be calmer. I saw my

students get so excited raising their hands to do exercises or get involved in class activities

when they knew they could gain the mark.

Thuy: But it is hard for them to gain the mark.

Hong: Maybe it is due to your personality, but you can adjust a little bit…

[CoP 3]

The above extract shows that she started to realise the difference between her thought and other

members’. Like Hong said before in CoP 1, Thuy was focusing too much on students’ mistakes

or positioning them as troublemakers. She was also greatly influenced by the institutional

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discourse. The way she appeared to show disagreement with what Hong said indicates a form

of engagement in the CoP meeting. Wenger (1998) suggested that “as a form of participation,

rebellion often reveals a greater commitment than does passive conformity” (p.7). The data,

thus, reveals that Thuy deeply looked into her issue and really wanted to learn from other

members in order to change her situation. It was because she found she did things totally

differently which meant that the way she was doing things might be wrong. The discussion

with Hong seemed to challenge Thuy’s way of thinking and possibly encouraged her to think

in another way. This potentially led to a change in her professional identity as she encountered

a different discourse through Hong’s sharing.

Similarly, Thuy expressed her different perspective in terms of whether teachers’

challenges or students’ challenges should be explored first. In Thuy’s opinion, teachers should

be prioritised, not students. This perception aligned Thuy with the Confucian teaching

discourse or teacher-centred approach. By contrast, most of the teacher participants agreed that

teachers had to put students first and based their teaching on students. In this way, Thuy had a

chance to reconceptualise her interpretation of the teacher-centred and student-centred

approaches.

Thu: What challenges do students often have in reading skills?

I: Thuy has just mentioned one, topic. It is also in the article I’ve printed for you.

Thu: Yes, it relates to our context as well. We teach Business English.

Thuy: Right, the topic related to business

Thuy: Why don't we talk about challenges for teachers? Why are challenges for

students?

I: Because we have one unsolved question “what challenges do teachers face when

teaching this skill?”

Thu: Umh, we haven’t discussed this question yet.

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 Thuy: I think we should talk about teachers first because we are the people who act…

Thi: Why do we act? We are just the guides…

Thuy: I mean, we have to find challenges for ourselves so that we can fix and apply….

Hai: Finding challenges for students is also a way helping teachers

Members: Absolutely!

Thuy: I don’t understand!

Thi: To sum up, students are always the first and most important

Thu: I agree. Before finding challenges of teachers, we should find challenges of

students.

Hai: Yes, so that we can gear our teaching towards students

Thuy: We have to find for us first, why students?

Thi: Thuy, don’t think like that. Students should be prioritised. They are the first we

should think about in teaching

I: I agree, when we start teaching a class, we often ask students about the difficulties

or challenges they face, and we base lesson plans on that.

Thu: And you know that you find the challenges for students will reduce the challenges

for you.

All members: Agree!

[CoP 5]

6.4 After the CoP - Reconciling the discourse conflicts

If the CoP model was a one-off one-day PD programme such as a seminar or workshop which

lacked follow-up activities as well as reflections, it is doubtful that the teachers would have

made the changes to their teaching styles. The data from during the CoP reveals that Thuy,

despite acknowledging the CoP members’ constructive and useful comments and suggestions

in helping her improve her relationship with students, still resisted the new positioning (in her

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opinion) and kept asking questions to clarify how a more constructivist approach works exactly

before claiming her changes. In that sense, Thuy’s case illustrates the quotation I cited at the

opening of this chapter. Some Confucian values existed deep inside her mind, but she rejected

this discourse because it is commonly said to be problematic and often criticised. She preferred

the constructivist teaching discourse and tried to build up the image of a constructivist teacher.

However, time and syllabus constraints imposed by the institutional discourse as well as

students’ disruptive behaviours made her confused, which resulted in difficulties dealing with

class incidents, especially student-related issues. Some features of the constructivist teaching

discourse conflicted with some of the Confucian discourse (for example, students not following

teachers’ instructions), leading to her surface application of the constructivist teaching

principles.

The CoP members helped her see what the problem was and how different her thinking

was from others. More importantly, the CoP members supported her when she needed it. With

eight face-to-face meetings, sufficient time for discussion, a hands-on communicative tool

(Viber app), reflective writing journals, as well as hands-on resources to use, Thuy had many

chances to raise questions, develop critical views, and take agency, which all helped her open

up marginalised and repressed discourses leading to change in her PI (Burr, 2003, 2015).

Thuy’s change needed time, effort, support, and involved complexity, resistance, doubt,

reflection, acceptance, and application. It suggests that the CoP is a good model for EFL

teachers in the way it offered them a safe place to raise their hard-to-say or sensitive problems

and receive scaffolding, support, encouragement, and challenge to reconcile conflicts involving

cultures and contexts when applying something new to them or something challenging their

common sense set and built up over years of teaching and learning as an EFL teacher.

Within the three discourses, not only Nga and Thuy admitted that they had some radical

changes, but other CoP members also reported an improvement in their relationships with

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students (Khanh) or a sense of greater courage to challenge themselves by teaching new skills

(Hai).

Reconciling the discourse conflicts

In her post-CoP interview, Thuy asserted that she had “changed a lot” thanks to her

participation in the CoP group. She reflected:

In the past, I easily got angry with students who had poor learning attitudes and class

performance. I thought they were making excuses for their laziness, disruptive

behaviours, and bad results…I always stressed many times that they had to study

English because it was good for their future. Now I just say to them that “You learn for

yourself, not for me. My duty is to instruct you and guide you to help you improve your

learning”. [Thuy-Post-interview].

There is a difference in the way she described herself compared to her pre-interview. Before

she put herself as the teacher at the centre, students must study hard for the best results that she

imposed on them. She got angry if they could not reach the aim and positioned them as

troublemakers. After the CoP, Thuy appeared to emphasise students. According to her, it was

students who studied for themselves with various needs and demands. Her task was to facilitate

their learning to help them achieve their target. In this description, Thuy was clarifying her

professional identity. Interestingly, she did not borrow the terms of constructivist teaching like

“facilitator” to describe herself as she did before the CoP. Instead, she used her own words.

This might be a signal for a shift in her understanding or reconceptualisation of teacher-centred

and student-centred concepts, which may mark the start of her developing a hybrid identity as

well.

In the post-interview, Thuy described herself as a “soft and flexible” teacher when

interacting with students. She gave an example:

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 At the beginning of the term, I did not threaten them that I would do this or do that like

before. Instead, I told them that I would give them rewards. For example, if they

performed well in class, they would be rewarded by getting attendance marks or being

crossed out on a late or absent day. These really motivated students to learn actively in

class [Thuy-Post-interview]

It is apparent that Thuy applied the CoP members’ suggestions to reward rather than punish in

her class and found it worked with her students. This suggests a change in her perceptions or

beliefs about students. She did not view them as troublesome or inferior. She now focused on

their positives, on what they did well, and did not mention the negatives. In this way, she

showed softness and flexibility in dealing with students under the institutional discourse.

Although acknowledging her changes in perceptions, beliefs, and practice, Thuy still

stated that “for students who keep behaving disruptively in class although I give them

chances…I keep my belief that I need to be strict to them. I will punish these students or let

them retake the course” [Thuy-Post-interview]. Thuy appeared to keep her own perception

towards students’ bad behaviours which were largely towards the Confucian discourse. I argue

that like Khanh (see section 6.2.1), Thuy defined herself as a role model or moral guide.

However, the way she dealt with students’ behaviours was different from before the CoP. In

the past, she easily got angry with students and gave them no chance to make up for their

mistakes. She used to put the blame on students. She categorised students into two distinct

groups – one with disruptive behaviours and one without, one involving bad students and one

consisting of good students, one that disliked her and one that liked her. After the completion

of the CoP PD, Thuy seemed to empathise more with students and had develop a different

perspective on students. She now seemed to put all students into one group that consists of

students who make mistakes and will get many chances to make up for them.

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 Moreover, previously, Thuy never let students design any games or activities in class

because she did not believe in their abilities. She thought it to be safer and better if she did

prepare for everything in class. After the CoP, she stated that there was “a big change” in her

class.

That was the last day of the term. Students asked me to do something else instead of

learning as usual. And as usual, I said “No” to them. However, because we just finished

the lesson about “Negotiation”, I said to them that I would agree if they negotiated with

me successfully. Then they did. Instead of learning in a normal way, they arranged in

groups to organise activities with my little assistance. These activities were created,

designed, and organised by them, not me. There were both successful and unsuccessful

activities. Among 4 groups, 3 did well and only 1 did not, I meant their activity was not

so exciting. However, I draw a lesson that students can do very well, better than my

expectation. So, I am thinking of doing activities like this for the next term, having

students do the warm-up part of lessons. It’s simple but fun. [Thuy-Post-interview]

This example also represents her changing views of students and its influence on her teaching

practice. She did not use the term “student-centred” to describe her approach rather, the way

Thuy empowered students and found that they could accomplish tasks better than she thought

indicates that her teaching approach was increasingly moving toward the constructivist

approach. This also helped her open up or discover another aspect of students’ identities, i.e.,

empowered students.

All in all, Thuy’s case exemplifies the process of reconciling of conflicting discourses

and identity positions. If the data from before the CoP shows her being unhappy and dissatisfied

with students and herself, the data from the post-interview reveals that she was happy and

satisfied when students were motivated and performed better in class as a result of her changes

in beliefs and practice. Thuy added that students gave her compliments, positive feedback, and

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even a present (a cake) on a special occasion such as Teachers’ Day. This, once again,

confirmed Thuy’s positive changes in identity and practice.

Nga also experienced tensions before the CoP. She wanted to be a facilitator, utilising

the CLT approach, being close to students to encourage more communication in class.

However, like other novice teachers going through the phase of reality shock (McCormack &

Thomas, 2003), Nga experienced a mismatch between her belief and practice. Students’

feedback constrained her to be friendly to students and the misinterpretation of the

constructivist concepts caused difficulties for her in practice. The CoP offered her new ideas to

think and act on, a reconceptualisation of concepts, and hands-on resources to use. Nga stated:

Before I braced myself to speak English all the class time, even when students did not

understand. Now I am flexible in using the Vietnamese language to explain if necessary

and helpful for my students. Before I often spoke too fast for students to listen,

sometimes without any meaning. Now, I become calmer and can control myself better.

I modify my speaking speed so that students can listen more clearly. Before I was afraid

of whether the informal language I used was of the standard of a teacher. Now I can use

their language to communicate with them confidently [Nga-Post-interview]

It seems that Nga tried to use only English or speak fast as a way to prove that she was not a

traditional teacher. The traditional teacher might use both English and Vietnamese language in

class, an approach which was often blamed for students’ lack of speaking skills. Using only

English proved that she was proficient in English and speaking fast might suggest that she

speaks like a native speaker. Nga was afraid of being judged as a traditional teacher or not a

good EFL teacher and sounding like a native speaker played a vital role is an important aspect

of that which is deeply rooted in students’ minds as she stated in Chapter 5. Thus, Nga focused

too much on her image, on how she was seen in the others’ eyes, rather than focus on students’

learning and her teaching. Moreover, it also revealed that Nga held a stereotype about the

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Confucian teacher. The discussions in the CoP challenged her thoughts and guided her towards

student-centred approaches. She was flexible and adjusted her approach to match students’

English levels and needs. The main point was that she paid more attention to students, not her

image. Her new approach did not negate the traditional approach (using the Vietnamese

language in English classes) provided it benefited her students. Therefore, Nga managed to

reconcile the conflicting discourses.

Nga talked more about her response to students’ feedback:

Now I haven’t received students’ feedback yet. Maybe I won’t until the end of the year.

But I feel that students are happy in my class, with my teaching. What I want to do in

class is to motivate students, make the class fun, and make them love English. I think

I’ve done these things...with engaging lessons. Looking happy students, I feel a love for

the job. [Nga-Post-interview]

Rather than focusing on students’ feedback, Nga moved to focus on her main tasks - students’

learning - by motiving, inspiring them, creating a comfortable environment for them to learn,

and designing interesting lessons. In this way, she appeared to be a constructivist teacher. She

also reconceptualised the constructivist concept she had misunderstood before: student-centred

meant paying attention to their feedback.

Khanh, who seemed to have a good relationship with students before the CoP, admitted

that participation in the CoP offered him many new strategies to work with students. He has

since developed an even better relationship with students. In this way, the CoP helped reassure

and consolidate his belief and practice. In other words, the CoP offered various ways for the

teachers to change depending on the level of ZPD. Vygotsky (1978) clearly acknowledged that

individuals have different levels of potential. Their potential may be limited by personal or

internal factors such as intelligence and motivation, or by external social and environmental

factors. Thus, although both Thuy and Khanh are experienced teachers, their potential is

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different, and their development or changes vary accordingly. However, in the end, both

experienced a positive change in their teaching practices.

Khanh’s success in the classroom was intertwined with his awareness of professional

identity. This awareness process enabled him to provide contextually, socially, and

educationally appropriate opportunities to his students (K. E. Johnson, 2006). Moreover, it is

evident that his professional identity was already established and then maintained throughout

the CoP. However, unlike Thuy’s and Nga’s identity negotiation process with conflicts and

“disequilibrium”, Khanh’s negotiation and reflection process seemed to indicate

“assimilation”, meaning that his interactions in the CoP are understood as confirming values

he already held (Hong et al., 2017).

6.5 Summary

The way the teachers talked about their teacher roles and their teaching practices makes me

think of the word “reconcile”. “Reconcile” means to find a way in which two situations or

beliefs that are opposed to each other can agree and exist together (Cambridge dictionary) or

to make one consistent with another, especially by allowing for transactions begun but not yet

complete (Google search). In line with these definitions, three discourses are still available in

the teachers’ thinking and practice, the teachers do not totally reject or exclude any, but they

negotiate and manage the conflicts of these discourses in their own ways to match their

identities and practice. The identity negotiation process that each teacher went through is

different but in each case, it took time and effort as well as personalised scaffolding. The

findings challenge the idea that changes a Confucian teacher makes within the constructivist

teaching and institutional discourses which seemed to conflict with the Confucian value are on

the surface only. The findings of this chapter are in line with Burr’s (2003, 2015) suggestion

that change is difficult, but possible and important, especially in the context of Vietnam, where

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teaching practices have not changed markedly even though teachers regularly attend PD

programmes aimed to promote new practices.

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 CHAPTER 7: CREATING AN EFFECTIVE COP IN VIETNAM

7.1 Introduction

When it comes to the effectiveness of the CoP, mutual engagement, shared enterprise, and

shared repertoire are three important elements used (see Chapter 2 – 2.5.1). In this study, the

CoP took place in the context of Vietnam, so other factors might emerge as relevant. This

chapter explores the factors that contributed to the success of the teacher CoP based in Vietnam.

They include structure, relationship, and reciprocity.

7.2 Structure

The data from the post-interview, CoP recordings, the teachers’ reflections, and the researcher’s

notes showed that many factors contributed to the success of the community of practice. The

CoP structure was probably the first and foremost element.

7.2.1 Teacher-based structure

The CoP was designed for the teachers and by the teachers, thus the structure was entirely

teacher driven. I wanted to work with my colleagues who were teaching English to non-English

major students at the university so that we could develop our teaching practice and our

profession. I shared the idea of a CoP with my colleagues. During the six-month process of

implementing the CoP, what I proposed to do with the teachers at the beginning and what we

together negotiated and discussed to do in the CoP continuously changed and developed.

Specifically, in the beginning, I generally aimed to try the CoP to help the teachers with their

professional development. When the CoP was designed by and for the participants, the aim

became specific and unique: to teach the students effectively, to have a good relationship with

students, to be more liked by students, and to share hands-on techniques so that the teacher

participants could save time and energy as the teachers were all busy and dealt with a large

workload. These were the joint enterprises or shared goals that bind CoP members together

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(Wenger, 1998). Moreover, in the initial plan, I proposed one set-up meeting; however, two

meetings were needed before the first official CoP meeting could happen. The time to recruit

the study participants was thus longer than I expected (this issue will be discussed later in this

chapter). The teachers also chose the time, date, and place for meetings, the food they liked,

the topics for discussion, and the ground rules. Additionally, the teachers suggested

improvements to elements of the proposed data collection process, namely that reflections

should be done individually rather than in small groups as the CoP was already a small group

and they felt comfortable reflecting by themselves (suggested by Thu, Thuy, and Nga in CoP

2). I listened to their ideas, took notes, and modified procedures if applicable to make sure that

the teachers felt safe, comfortable, and engaged in the CoP activities. All these suggestions

meant that the CoP was not designed by me anymore, but by and for all the CoP members. The

changes or modifications in the CoP structure came from the teacher participants and catered

to their needs, desires, and suggestions.

This led to the CoP meetings run by all the teacher participants. Those participants with

expertise in a meeting topic would lead the meetings; they took turns to lead the CoP each

week. For example, Nga and Hai were teaching reading skills and Thu was the leader of the

departmental reading skills group for many years, so the three of them led the meeting on

reading skills. They shared their knowledge, teaching experiences, activities to use, ways to

motivate students, misunderstandings about reading lessons, and so on. Similarly, Khanh and

Nga took charge of listening skills, Thi and Thuy facilitated speaking skills, and Hong shared

her knowledge and experiences about writing skills. Each was an expert in their teaching skill.

Thus, their voice, their knowledge, and their experience were respected and listened to carefully

by others.

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 The CoP was re-characterised and reformed to suit the teacher participants’ needs. In

the pre-and post-interview, during the CoP meetings, and from my notes, the teachers appeared

to be very busy. “Busy” and “overworked” were words used very often by them. Some of the

reasons for their busyness were mentioned in section 3.6 – Chapter 3. Firstly, the EFL teachers

taught various kinds of English such as General English, Business English, separated English

skills, or integrated skills to different kinds of students in different programmes with different

textbooks. Secondly, apart from their main task of teaching, the teachers accomplished multiple

tasks that the department, faculty, and university required of them such as checking students’

attendance, marking students’ tests, recording, and calculating students’ marks on paper sheets,

observing examinations, designing tests, and participating in PD activities. Thirdly, the teachers

dealt with a large workload when there was an expansion of university programmes and

students’ enrolment while the number of EFL teaching staff seemingly remained unchanged.

As EFL teachers of the non-English major Department, they taught English to almost all

undergraduate students in the university. All the teachers in the study had teaching hours

exceeding the university requirements (see table 3.2 – The teachers’ teaching schedule -

Chapter 3). The data from CoP 1 shows that the experienced teachers agreed that they had no

choice and were required to teach very long hours. Fourthly, the salary was an issue. Five of

the eight participants had their own families with children to take care of. They needed to earn

more than a standard teaching income to cover the higher average costs of living in the capital

of Vietnam. The single teachers also needed to make money to support themselves. All agreed

that the pay in the teaching profession was not high enough. As a result, they taught not only

at the university but also gave private classes or worked at English centres. The more classes

or hours they taught, the more money they made. All the teachers in this study had multiple

jobs and worked very long days.

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 While admitting they were busy, in the pre-interviews, they all claimed that they loved

their teaching job. For example, for Khanh, “teaching is the noblest and most respected job in

society. I love it because I am respected and feel helpful in this job” [Khanh-Pre-interview].

Hong, Nga, and Hai loved the job because they felt happy and feel young when they worked

with students. Thu and Thi shared the idea that the teaching job helped them make more money

outside the university. Thuy loved her job because she could implement what she had learned

at university. All the teachers, said that they wanted to develop their profession, to be liked by

students, and to make their lessons more effective. That was why they attended traditional PD

programmes such as seminars or conferences whenever they had a chance. The teachers stated

in the pre-interview that they liked attending the PD programmes. However, some also pointed

out some features of these programmes they did not like. For instance, Khanh claimed that he

had to manage his teaching schedule when he was required to attend a one-month PD

programme. He gave up on teaching hours for to attend a PD programme he was required to

do. This annoyed him because, under a credit-based teaching and learning system, it was hard

for the teacher and students to find a suitable time for them to make up for the lessons they

missed, not to mention finding an empty room to teach on that day. Hong added that she

attended some PD programmes because she was forced, it was required for teachers to

participate, and the content was irrelevant to her teaching, so in her opinion, these programmes

wasted her time. Thu, to some extent, disliked some PD programmes organised by the faculty

because teachers were monitored, and their attendance was checked which affected their

eligibility to receive certificates at the end of the programme. Collectively, the CoP was a new

PD model for all the participants in the study. That was why the teachers were eager to attend.

More details about how its structure suited the teachers leading to the CoP’s success will be

analysed in the following sections.

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 The size of the CoP also contributed to the CoP success. There were eight members

including the researcher in the CoP. The small number allowed us to work closely and

understand each other better. We felt uncomfortable if someone, for some reason, was absent

on the day of the meeting (CoP 4 – Khanh’s absence). We waited for each other for lunch and

knew each other’s eating habits. If someone was late, we called him/her to remind or to ask

when he/she could come, so that we could wait to start the meeting. As a small group, we were

like a “family” as Nga stated in the post-interview. The empirical studies supporting the benefits

of a small sized teacher community were stated in section 3.4 – Chapter 3. Due to the small

size of the CoP, the members felt a sense of caring for and united with each other which fostered

mutual engagement and interpersonal relationships among the participants.

7.2.2 Preparing for the CoP meetings

As busy teachers, the participants definitely wanted to attend a PD programme that was

practical, meaningful, and did not waste their time. Although they expressed their interest in

the CoP when I introduced the project and although I sent them the information documents

about the CoP project to read in advance, the teachers were encouraged to come to the initial

set-up meeting to ask questions. There is a proverb in Vietnam “trăm nghe không bằng một

thấy” (seeing is believing). I believed that the teachers would work well in the CoP when they

were clearly aware of what a CoP is and how it could work for them. I also knew that they were

busy and had no time to read the documents I sent them (as some told me), so the set-up meeting

was important and necessary. Some teachers needed more time to think before making their

decision to participate because this was a long-term project and the first CoP model PD that

they would attend. The two introductory meetings were important to give participants time to

really think about and be certain they want to participate. This meant that all members had a

strong commitment to the CoP participation. While the initial meeting was to explain the details

of the project, the second set-up meeting had a different purpose. Here, the participants

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discussed possible topics for the CoP meetings, and they also got to know each other and set

up their own ground rules to make sure that everyone felt safe and comfortable to talk about

and share their professional experiences and problems. The two set-up meetings seemed a lot

for busy teachers but actually played an important role for them. A good plan was better than a

quick plan in this study.

Although the teacher participants knew the main topic for discussion for the following

meeting, specific questions or any concerns about the topic were always asked one or two days

before the meeting via the Viber app. Such questions were reminders to prepare themselves for

the meeting topic, and they worked for busy teachers because they did not require the

participants to do much work, they just had to prepare themselves for the upcoming meetings.

Specifically, the participants could be reminded of the meeting in terms of what to talk about,

who to talk with, and when and where the meeting would take place. This helped them prepare

for the meeting in that it made them set aside some time to familiarise themselves with the

topic, reflect or think critically about the issue and ensure content was relevant to their teaching

problems. Thi and Hong asserted that such questions were helpful for them in this way. The

questions also helped the facilitators prepare well for the meetings. As Hai’s comment

indicates, she also found them helpful:

You often texts everyone to ask if there are any questions or problems. If so, we are

expected to note them down so that the facilitator of the following meeting can focus

on what people are concerned about. This makes me think a lot, I reflect on what

happens in my class to find if there are any problems… [Hai-Post-interview]

Hai became an active participant and learner in the CoP meetings due to the guided questions

sent beforehand. She firmly asserted in the post-interview that her participation in the CoP

fostered her ability “to build up the awareness of reflection … the habit of reflection … after

each lesson” [Hai-Post-interview]. While Hai’s comment suggests that it was the entire CoP

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process that helped her understand the value of reflection, the preparation questions certainly

forced her to regularly reflect on her teaching (see Chapter 4 for more information).

7.2.3 Reading materials

Reading materials related to the discussion topic were first searched, selected, downloaded,

printed, and sent to all the CoP members by me so that they could familiarise themselves with

the topic and gain background knowledge such as theoretical terminology and other research

studies in the field. One main reason was that the teacher participants were busy with their

teaching loads, so as the overall facilitator, I took responsibility for finding materials. Thu, Nga,

and Hai thanked me for this. However, the data from the CoP recordings of early meetings also

showed that there were a few participants who read prior to the meeting. They had different

views about these materials.

During and after the meetings, Nga asserted that she found reading materials helpful

and useful for her. The reason was she was new, young, and inexperienced, and as a result she

did not have much knowledge about the discussion topics. The reading materials sent prior to

each CoP helped her familiarise herself with terms and content of the topic, made her feel well-

prepared, so that she could be more active and confident in the CoP. Although she lacked

teaching experience to share with others, she could share what she read and felt that she was

useful in the meeting because other teachers, especially experienced ones who were too busy

to read, would listen to her sharing attentively. For example, in CoP 1, Nga raised her ideas

about the wording of the topic. The original topic was “How to deal with students who behave

badly”, but from what she read in articles, she found that the authors tended to use “students

with disruptive behaviours” or “difficult students”. She shared this idea with other participants,

and then all agreed to edit the topic into “How to deal with students with disruptive behaviours”.

Nga commented in the meetings, wrote in the reflections, and asserted in the post-interview

that she found the articles really helpful. In this respect, the reading preparation played an

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important part that not only provided the teachers with relevant background knowledge but also

helped novice teachers like Nga built confidence that helped her make up for her youth and

inexperience. Through her engagement with the readings, she could contribute to the discussion

and others would listen to her, making her feel like a respected, valued, and equal member of

the group.

Thu and Thuy, two very experienced teachers, questioned the practicality of the reading

materials. In the early CoP meetings, they commented that they read the materials but found

them impractical for their context. The content was quite theoretical. However, both then found

these articles interesting because they made them remember what they learned before and

linked theory to practice. Thu said:

Over the years I have just focused on teaching, using many skills and strategies in my

teaching, but I do not how to name them. When I read articles, I realised the terms or

definitions or names for what I use. It is interesting, right? [Thu-Post-interview]

Thu added that reading articles made her interested in doing research. She mentioned research

because EFL teachers in general and Thu in particular often considered teaching as their main

responsibility while research was not. For Thu, “teachers taught every day...like a machine.

They rarely conducted research during their profession” [Thu-Post-interview]. This notion was

similar to the other teacher participants shown in the pre-interviews and CoP recordings. Due

to the recent educational reforms and the university’s goal to establish itself as a research and

teaching university, university teachers are required to have a certain amount of research hours,

otherwise, their remuneration would be affected. Unlike other colleagues of subjects such as

economics or business, EFL teachers have a stereotype that the EFL teachers did not know how

to do research, or if they did research, the research result was impractical. The reputation maybe

related to the fact that other subject teachers had to pursue PhD study as a requirement to teach

at university while EFL teachers did not. They were encouraged to study further but not

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required. The reading materials were thus useful for experienced teachers like Thu in terms of

increasing research familiarity.

For Hong and Thi, having reading materials that were available and ready-to-use saved

their time. They did not need to take the time to find suitable texts. As busy teachers, they just

scanned, skimmed, and grasped the main points whenever they wanted. Hong added that the

knowledge in the articles was not new to her, however, she was affirmed that what she was

doing aligned with what was said in the articles. All in all, providing reading materials was

helpful for both novice and experienced teachers.

7.2.3 Lunchtime meetings

Lunchtime meetings in this study were significant in at least three ways. First, as all the teachers

were busy with their teaching schedule on campus from early morning to late afternoon, having

lunch provided as part of the CoP meetings clearly benefited them. When they walked to the

meeting room, food and drinks were available and ready to be served. They did not need to

prepare any food or drinks on that day, saving time and energy.

Second, the data from post-interviews shows that all the participants liked lunchtime

for its socialisation. Thu said, “Lunch is what I like most. We gather, enjoy our favourite food

together, catch up with and chitchat or socialise during the lunch” [Thu-Post-interview]. The

data from the CoP recordings showed that hierarchy or positions did not play a role during the

lunchtime; all were in the same boat: we sat next to each other and communicated with ease

and comfort and enjoyed lunch together. We shared the food, remembered each other’s

favourite food, and gave it to each other for the next time. This was a sign of understanding and

caring among CoP members. This mutual understanding was developed during the lunchtime

meetings affected their entire CoP as evident in Nga’s post-interview data: “the meetings

discuss academic issues, but I never feel stressed. I only miss how funny and happy I am in

these meetings…” [Nga-Post-interview]. Thus, lunch was not only food the participants ate but

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also a social activity where they caught up with and talked to each other, relaxed, and relieved

stress. They laughed a lot during lunch. They got to know each other and became united. Eating

lunch together seems to have broken down social barriers and connected the teachers.

Third, as busy teachers, the participants taught every day in classes and communicated

mainly with students. Most of the participants, including Khanh, Thi, Thuy, and Hong,

commented that without an organised lunch like this, they just would eat their own food alone

in silence in a teachers’ room, then take a nap before starting afternoon lessons. A short nap is

common in Vietnam due to the weather and climate condition. It is a common part of

Vietnamese culture. Initially, some did not want the meetings to be held at lunchtime because

they were worried that they would feel sleepy if they did not take a nap and because they were

used to having a nap after lunch. However, as we could not find any suitable time other than

lunchtime if they were not going to need to sacrifice their teaching hours or make up for classes

due to their CoP participation, we agreed on lunchtime meetings. The data collected during and

after the CoP shows that none of the teachers were concerned about their nap issue anymore

once the CoP got started. On the contrary, all said they liked lunch and emphasised its

joyfulness. Hai called it “happy lunch”. In this respect, combining meetings with a meal meant

that the participants bonded, felt united and had fun, which fostered interpersonal relationships

among CoP members. Lunch was a small part of the CoP project but made a great contribution

to the CoP success in the way it fitted the Vietnamese context.

Many studies (e.g., Emery, 2012; D. C. Nguyen, 2017; Varghese et al., 2005) pointed

out influential factors of real-world issues such as working conditions and wages on teachers’

professional development. While teachers in other contexts dealt with intensification caused by

the requirements of education reforms (Flores, 2012), the participants in the present study were

also concerned with financial issues, which aligns with the findings of D.C Nguyen’s (2017a)

study. As mentioned above, they were busy teachers – covering excessive teaching loads

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because the more they taught, the more money they could make. They wanted to develop as

professionals but simultaneously did not want to sacrifice their teaching hours. That was why

lunch meetings with free lunch provided helped the participants save money, did not interfere

with their teaching schedule in the morning or the afternoon, and provided PD benefits as well.

In this respect, the study paid attention to the necessities of life, financial benefits, and well-

being of teachers. According to D.C Nguyen (2017a), these things need to be considered “first

before examining other issues such as teaching and learning efficiency or education reform”

(p.776). If the material well-being of teachers in Vietnam is not ensured, they will continue to

be involved in private tutoring, teaching from early morning until late evening like a machine,

and have no time for PD.

7.2.4 Follow-up activities

After CoP 8, I started to conduct the post-interviews. Thu said that she really liked the CoP and

found it successful, however, in her opinion the CoP would be more successful if she had a

chance to apply what she learned for her teaching practice. Most of the participants agreed that

they did not have opportunities to apply knowledge and skills learned from the CoP because

they had finished their teaching for this semester, they would apply these things in the next

semester after a term break. Thus, they could not answer questions about what and how to apply

in practice. Thu explained:

When attending other PD programmes, I found them interesting and useful at that time.

I was motivated to apply what was taught for my teaching at that time. However, when

the programmes ended, I seemed to come back to my usual teaching. I think it is due to

the lack of follow-up activities [Thu-Post-interview]

By comparing the CoP with other PD programmes and pointing out the reasons for unsuccessful

PD programmes, Thu implied that the CoP was like other PD programmes if it ended here

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without any follow-up activities. When asked for further suggestions, Thu suggested

motivating people to apply what they learned by reporting the result to a peer.

I appreciated Thu’s suggestion for me and the CoP success. I shared Thu’s idea with

the CoP members and said that I would come back to them in the next semester. When I

returned to New Zealand, I still kept in touch with the CoP members on Viber. I talked to them

about life in New Zealand and sent them any documents I found interesting or useful for their

teaching. Other teachers like Hong or Thi also shared links about education (formal or funny).

We kept in touch, shared academic issues, and reminded each other of applying what we

learned. The frequency of communication was not as much as during the CoP meetings because

the main purpose was just to remind the participants to digest and apply knowledge. When they

nearly finished their new semester after the CoP ended, I asked them some follow-up questions

via Zoom. Some of them just completed the questions they left blank in the post-interview.

Others added to the answers they had given previously, even if they had already responded to

all questions. Khanh, for instance, had a very different perspective on the CoP in the follow-up

interview compared to the post-interview. However, had I not asked follow-up questions, I

would probably have missed salient information. The story of Khanh is about delay. He did not

see the knowledge shared in the CoP as new to him, but he found the new ideas about using

technology that were shared by the novice teachers very helpful. He initially said that he

expected more from the CoP. However, in the follow-up questions, his responses were

different. He said he valued the knowledge and materials shared in the CoP. After spending a

semester applying what was discussed in the group, he now found that the CoP was “great”.

Overall, follow-up activities and giving participants the chance to apply what was

learned were important factors in the success of this PD approach. Changes take time so the

effectiveness of the PD could only be seen over time.

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7.3 Relationships

Relationships among CoP members can be created through mutual engagement. Wenger (1998)

considered mutual engagement as a fundamental characteristic of a community of practice. It

is developed through shared engagement in discussions, negotiations, and an exchange of ideas.

However, mutual support and interpersonal commitment cannot always be assumed. Conflict,

disagreement, and challenges can also be typical forms of engagement within a CoP. Wenger

(1998) suggested that “as a form of participation, rebellion often reveals a greater commitment

than does passive conformity” (p.77). Hence, the variety of relations within a CoP is complex.

In this study, relationships already existed among CoP members and with me as the researcher.

The relationships were built up since the beginning of the project. Mutual engagement was

quickly established and reinforced largely due to collaboration and collegiality in the teacher-

based structure.

7.3.1 Collaboration and collegiality

In the invitation asking teachers to participate in the project, in the set-up meetings, and the

CoP meetings, I always positioned myself as one of the teacher participants’ colleagues rather

than as a researcher. I was there to share the idea about a PD model that I hoped my colleagues

were interested in so that we could work together and see how the CoP worked for us. The

teachers who were keen on the project, came to the set-up meeting, listened to me talking about

the CoP project, asked questions, and had time to make the decision about whether they wanted

to participate. There was no pressure on them to do so. It was them who actively raised

questions and made their final decision. Their participation in the project was absolutely

voluntary.

Additionally, there was no difference in power between me and the participants. I had

to wait for the teachers’ decision if they needed more time to think. Without the teachers’

voluntary participation, I could not run the CoP. The teachers were aware that their decision to

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join in the study was important, their internal motivation and commitment to the CoP process

were vital too. They understood the potential benefits as well as what was expected of them

when they agreed to join and signed in the consent forms. That was why some of them needed

more time to think after the first set-up meeting. Thu and Thuy, for example, explained that

they would delay giving me their final decision after the first set-up meeting as they did not

want to attend and then withdraw from the CoP after a while. They wanted to be fully

committed when participating in the project. It is obvious that these teachers took responsibility

for their decision, and this also shows their strong commitment to the project.

Within the CoP there were novice and experienced teachers. While most of the teacher

participants were experienced with 6 to 13 years of teaching and knew each other quite well,

two novice teachers with only several months of teaching at the university, were new. One of

these new teachers, Hai, said she did not feel like she belonged in any group before CoP

participation because at the Department she was new and young. She found it hard to

communicate with other teachers, especially experienced ones, so she just communicated with

novice and young teachers like her. Nga, another new teacher, was the one she often talked to.

Hai mentioned that so far there were only two meetings where everyone at the Department got

together but that the meetings were purely formal and not an opportunity to get to know others.

Thus, the chance for Hai to meet and talk with colleagues, in general, was limited. Hai said that

she used to feel an invisible gap between her as a young and new teacher and her more

experienced colleagues, with few chances for her to communicate with them. Although the

more experienced teachers in the study did not explicitly state it, there was a sense that they

would prefer to talk with those who they were familiar with or those who were in the same

position as them. For example, Hong in her pre-interview said that she often talked about

teaching issues and shared materials with “close colleagues” (see Chapter 4 for further detail).

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Thuy also said she met other teachers in the teachers’ room and chatted with close teachers for

a while before the lessons.

The structure of the CoP, especially the two set-up meetings and lunch as mentioned

above, obviously created a great opportunity for the CoP members to get to know each other,

be closer and break barriers of age, experience, positions, and hierarchy. All the teachers agreed

that the environment in the CoP was friendly, comfortable, open, and supportive. Nga and Hai

stated in the post-interview that they missed the CoP a lot when they had a week off. They were

eager for the meeting because they felt belonging to the CoP.

The CoP meetings are always friendly, funny, comfortable, not serious, though we

discuss academic topics. Everyone in the CoP is willing to share. I have one week free

when all the classes in the higher education programme finish. I just stay at home. I

wish Friday comes soon so that I can attend CoP meetings where I laugh, enjoy and

learn. I really like CoP meetings. [Nga-Post-interview]

In the second set-up meeting, the participants gathered together, got to know each other, and

then talked about the topics they found interesting or concerning. In this meeting, both the

novice and experienced teachers actively raised their ideas. Nga and Hai presented the topics

they were struggling with, such as how to deal with students who did not follow their

instructions in class. Hong was interested in the idea of how to motivate teachers who were old

and lacked energy. Most of the teachers said they wanted to know more about techniques or

resources that helped teachers teach students effectively. In this meeting, everyone was

encouraged to talk about relevant topics and share ideas or issues from their classrooms. All

ideas were valued and then negotiated and agreed upon as a discussion topic. No idea was left

behind or ignored.

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 In the first CoP meeting, when the topic “how to deal with students with disruptive

behaviours” was discussed, the novice teachers were found to be quieter than the experienced

ones. Nga and Hai also wrote in their reflection after the meeting that they mainly listened to

other teachers’ stories and advice and asked questions if applicable. However, during the CoP

process and in the post-interview, they never mentioned any barriers between them and other

experienced teachers. I suggest that their silence in the first CoP meetings was probably related

to the topics. For example, the topic on how to deal with students was of concern to them, they

lacked experience and struggled with students, so they tended to listen rather than talk, to ask

rather than share. Nga also reflected that “I have learned so many things from this meeting. I

have no experience on the topic, so listening to the experienced teachers’ sharing is valuable

for me” [Nga - Ref1].

Moreover, both Nga and Hai believed that they were young novice teachers who had

struggles with students while experienced ones did not. In this meeting, they realised that even

experienced teachers had the same problems with students as them. This probably made them

feel more confident and more open to sharing with others and helped eliminate the gap between

experienced and novice teachers (see more in Chapter 4).

When it came to technology-based activities, Nga and Hai always enthusiastically

shared their knowledge with experienced teachers who hardly ever used technology in class. In

response to this, experienced teachers found that the novices were helpful, updated, high-tech,

and enthusiastic. They gained ideas about how to use technology which helped them keep up

to date in their teaching and their English language proficiency as well (see more in Chapter

5). Some teachers might think that they were experienced, knowledgeable, and knew a lot (for

example, Hong – Chapter 4, Khanh – Chapter 5). The interactions with the novice teachers,

however, inspired them regarding enthusiasm (see Hong’s case) and knowledge of technology

(see the cases of almost all experienced teachers). Khanh, for example, realised he had a

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restricted understanding of what blended learning was. Before the CoP, although he attended

PD about this topic, he thought that using a laptop and Power Point slideshows were types of

blended learning. The novice teachers instructed him how to employ some apps (Nearpods,

Kahoot) in practical ways that he could apply in his classrooms.

It seemed that the barriers created by the cultural norm that there should always be a

distance between the old and the young, or the belief that the young generation should always

respect and listen to older people who are always believed to have more experience, was not

strictly enforced in the CoP meetings. Both novice and experienced teachers respected each

other by listening to each other’s ideas. Both were experts in specific aspects and could learn

from each other. In this study, the data showed that the experienced teachers actively recognised

the strengths of the novice teachers. For Hong, that was their enthusiasm. For Khanh and many

other experienced teachers, they found a need for updating and applying technology more often

in their classes. The participants’ contributions and engagements were thus approximately

equal. The CoP members took turns and volunteered to be a facilitator of the meetings. They

were comfortable with each other in terms of sharing opinions, ideas, and teaching experiences

and resources. This is consistent with Wenger’s (1998) findings of mutual engagement that

through participation in the community, members establish norms and build collaborative

relationships which bind the members of the community together.

The relationship among the members was also developed through lunchtime as

mentioned above. Lunch was more than a meal, it was where the participants got to know each

other better, understood more about each other’s issues, and thus, through sharing openly,

teaching problems could be raised and resolved informally. Khanh said he loved lunch, not

only because it was free, but also because he could talk freely and socialise with other

colleagues. Many participants said they felt relaxed too. As busy teachers, they rarely had such

time to get together with colleagues. They chatted and discussed issues that were hard to say

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with leaders’ presence. Laughter at lunch brought all the teachers together. The results were in

line with the literature which indicates that tearoom chats were seen as facilitative for

professional learning in CoPs (Wang, 2010 cited in Ha, 2013; Hunter & Scheinberg, 2012).

According to Wang (2010) (cited in Ha, 2013), after meeting activities are another way that

teachers can further bond with each other and thus develop their sense of belonging to a

community. The relationship among the teacher participants was also built up based on the

establishment of the CoP as a safe place and trust as presented below.

7.3.2 Safe place

By safety, I mean that the CoP was participant-led without outsiders. The CoP was designed

by us for us. Together, the participants decide the topics for each meeting based on our own

teaching issues. We were encouraged to share our experiences. We set the ground rules together

so that we were safe to talk and share. There was no hierarchy, so no one judged us and no one

outside observed us. The CoP was informal but completely safe as well. As Thu said:

There is no attendance checking, no leaders in the CoP. In other PD programmes

I have attended, if I do not ensure my attendance as required, I will not be

eligible to get certificates. In the CoP, we are not worried about anything like

attendance checking or raising our ideas. I mean in the meetings where leaders

are present, it is formal, and we need to pay attention to many things before

giving our ideas. [Thu-Post-interview]

Less concern about things like attendance checking or language use in front of leaders meant

that Thu felt free to talk and share her problems without being afraid of being evaluated or

judged by her employers who had power or authority over her work. In addition, in this way,

Thu seemed to care less about saving face– a feature of Vietnamese culture in which people

protect their image by being silent or saying something in a natural way to please their employer

rather than giving a genuine idea because their idea may be judged. In general, if the participants

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found something unsafe or uncomfortable, they could say so and then the CoP would be

modified to ensure a safe place for everyone, which is what occurred after the first CoP meeting.

There were nine people in CoP 1, eight of us, and one guest who was expected to be

very experienced, so was invited to the meeting to share her knowledge and experience on the

topic “How to deal with students with disruptive behaviours”. I noticed that Khanh, an

experienced teacher sat quite quietly and only talked when asked a question. I expected him to

be more involved in the CoP compared to the novice teachers. I could understand why the

novice teachers mainly listened. However, although they shared less, they asked a lot of

questions which were good for discussion. After this CoP meeting, I asked Khanh in a personal

and friendly way if there was anything in the CoP that made him uncomfortable or anything he

did not like in the CoP. Fortunately, I received his genuine answer that he did not feel confident

in working with the guest. He said he felt a gap between him and the guest - she was senior,

academic, and knowledgeable - of much in higher status than him. He was afraid that what he

said might be considered “ridiculous” and be laughed at. Thus, it was better for him to only

listen and be silent rather than to say something.

Obviously, Khanh positioned himself as lower status and protected his face by being

quiet in the presence of a guest. He did not feel safe, therefore did not actively engage in this

meeting. Before the CoP started, I discussed with my supervisors whether inviting guests was

a good idea and we decided that guests would be invited if it was necessary for the CoP and

my participants. In the initial set-up meetings, the participants wondered whether they might

not be experts and that their input might not be as valuable, so I responded that we could invite

guests who were expected to be senior, knowledgeable, and academic so that we could learn

more from them. It was a ground rule we set and agreed on. I also personally thought that the

guest invitation would make our CoP stronger and more valuable for the participants. That was

why we invited a guest to the first meeting to discuss the topic. However, Khanh’s discomfort

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made me reflect. After CoP 1, I felt that without the invited guest, the meeting was still

interesting because the experience and knowledge of the participants was plentiful and helpful.

In consultation with my supervisors, I decided not to invite any more guests to the CoP

meetings. I realised that the CoP members were experts in our context, but a lack of confidence

made us think a guest might be better to help us. I discussed this with my participants, and we

agreed that from then onwards we would work together without any guests.

At that time, I thought Khanh’s resistance might relate to the fact that he was the guest’s

previous student, so he probably felt uncomfortable. But I also realised that CoP member Hong

was also his previous teacher, and the data from the CoP recording showed that Hong and

Khanh interacted and worked together in a very friendly and positive way. Thus, Khanh seemed

to see the participants in the CoP as peers, as members of his team, while he hesitated with

outsiders. Khanh comfortably talked about his recollections of studying with Hong and

sometimes teased her about what she did in class. They laughed a lot. When I listened and

relistened to the CoP recordings, it did not feel like a student-teacher relationship with a power

imbalance, rather they were actually colleagues communicating in a friendly and comfortable

way. Later in the post-interview, Khanh repeated this story as one factor which had caused his

moderate involvement in the CoP and told me that he found the CoP participants close and

friendly. He seemed to mean that he felt safe only with the CoP members within the CoP.

The data also showed that all the participants felt free to share their ideas or raise their

voices in the friendly and comfortable environment of the CoP. This aligned with the mutual

engagement element suggested by Wenger (1998). Hai, for instance, stated in the post-

interview that the CoP was like a family, and she could comfortably share her opinions. She

missed the CoP and eagerly waited for the next meeting. Previously, she often worked in

isolation. The CoP obviously became a meaningful place for Hai in this way. Nga admitted that

she was talkative and always raised a lot of questions that some of her university friends named

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her “Nga questioning” and asked her not to ask them questions when they made a presentation

in class. This made Nga worry about her questioning. In one CoP meeting, she stated that she

was afraid of asking “stupid” questions and being laughed at by others. However, in the CoP,

no one judged her, rather they encouraged her to ask questions. Hong, in CoP 3, told Nga that

there were no stupid questions.

The informality of the CoP created a safe place for the participants to feel free and

comfortable to talk and share. It should be noted that this project was the first time any of the

participants had been involved in a CoP or anything like it.

The safe place of the CoP contributed to trust-building among the members. The

teachers were able to hear and were told uncomfortable truths which would not happen in other

contexts. For example, Hai and Nga in the reflection and post interviews stated that other CoP

members shared with them “sensitive things” in their classes such as arriving to class late, let

students leave class earlier if they worked hard but got tired at the end of the lesson, or giving

them bonus marks on the midterm-test. Similarly, Hong reflected she was often “over-excited

to talk” and shared many “sensitive things” in the CoP. Thi shared that she did not think she

was a good teacher; she was sometimes amateur in the way that she came up with ideas for

class lessons when she saw students less motivated. Or she admitted that she made mistakes in

pronunciation and students noticed. Thuy also indicated that she trusted the CoP. When being

told that she was so strict that students felt fearful in her class, her first reaction was to resist

what people said about her and to protect her identity as a good and experienced teacher. But

then, probably after hearing “sensitive things” people shared or feeling their constructive

feedback for her, she admitted her strictness and shared what she did to students. Teachers’

punitive measures for disruptive students would normally remain secret as they might cast the

person in a bad light. If the CoP was not a safe place, and if the participants did not trust each

other, they would not do that. Most of the potentially problematic stories were shared by the

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experienced teachers who were expected to be senior, experienced, knowledgeable, and

respected in the faculty. Their embarrassing experiences would probably not be shared in front

of strangers.

It could be said that the participants built up a great relationship among all CoP

members. It was understandable that the novice teachers shared their weaknesses, but that the

experienced teachers admitted their mistakes and weaknesses is remarkable.

7.4 Reciprocity

The idea of reciprocity was developed by the participants during the CoP meetings. Mixed age

was one example of this. The participants’ ages ranged from the early 20s to late 40s facilitated

their mutual learning. The data from the pre-interviews indicated that all the experienced

teachers positioned themselves as good teachers (Chapter 6), experienced and knowledgeable

teachers (Hong - Chapter 4, Khanh – Chapter 5), good managers in class and with students

(Chapters 4 and 6), and methodological experts (Chapter 5). Due to experience, skills, and

knowledge accumulated from PD programmes and years of teaching, they confidently defined

themselves positively. However, they still felt that they wanted to teach more effectively and

be more liked by students. That was what motivated them to attend this project. Seeing what

the novices thought and did change these teachers’ minds and teaching as they learned about

technology or enthusiasm from the novice teachers as discussed above.

The novice teachers, Hai and Nga, claimed that they gained much from their

participation in the CoP, including teaching strategies, ways to deal with students, books, and

resources from the other teachers. Similarly, Nga learned from Thi to bring a pair of scissors,

spare paper, and colour pencils to every class for designing activities.

The story of mixed experience was not only that the young and old teachers learned

from each other, but also that the young learned from the young and the old learned from the

old. Thu said she was motivated a lot during the CoP. She saw other teachers like Thi working

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hard, so she had to try her best, too, as she could not make her ashamed. Nga found that Hai

used a lot of interesting games in her class, which motivated her to try harder and to be more

creative.

It can be said that the mix of experience in the CoP helped the participants to learn from

each other and develop together as shown in Table 7.1. The CoP was like the Zone of Proximal

Development (Vygotsky, 1978) in which each received scaffolding and support based on

his/her own learning needs to improve their teaching practice.

Table 7. 1:

What the CoP Members Learned from Each Other

Topic/content MKOs Scaffold

Technology Novice teachers - How to use apps, online sources
(CoP 4,5) - Introduce useful website and instruct
other teachers to create accounts, do
samples, and practice…
- Show the slides they prepared for their
classes
Relationship Experienced teachers - Practical examples and situations
with students (CoP 1) - Through their own experience in
dealing with difficult students
- Stories of their failure and success
- The lessons they learned during their
teaching time
Listening skills Both novice and - Suggest various warm-up activities
experienced teachers
(CoP 8)

This is an example of the joint enterprise or shared goal suggested by Wenger (1998).

The joint enterprise was a product of the teachers’ needs. Through the mix of experience and

mutual learning, the participants achieved shared goals such as teaching effectively in the

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context of educational reforms, being more liked by students, and having hands-on resources

for busy teachers as mentioned above.

Although the participants were different in age, experience, teaching subjects, and

positions, the CoP seemed relevant to all of them creating a shared enterprise. The data from

the post-interview shows that all the participants benefitted from the CoP. Thuy, for example,

stressed that the teacher-led meetings made the CoP relevant for her. Before the CoP, she said

she preferred a foreign expert-led PD programme. After the CoP, she found that the participants

were experts when it came to their context, working environment, students, textbooks, teaching

time, teaching loads, and special features of the university. According to Thuy, the teachers all

clearly understood these things, so the contents and solutions they discussed and suggested

were practical and applicable. Thuy’s comment aligns with the shared repertoire element

suggested by Wenger (1998). According to Wenger (1998), a shared repertoire refers to

“routines, words, tools, ways of doing things, stories, gestures, symbols, genres, actions of

concepts that the community has produced or adopted in the course of its existence, and which

have become part of its practice” (p.83). Shared repertoire was built up in parallel with the

development of mutual engagement which was fostered by many elements such as structure,

lunchtime meetings, or safe place.

7. 5 Summary

To sum up, once the participants become comfortable in the community as mutual engagement

developed, a joint enterprise and shared repertoire started to appear in CoP activities. As

indicated by Wenger (1998), a shared understanding of what binds members in CoP activities

together, termed “joint enterprise”, is created through members’ interaction. A Joint enterprise

can be negotiated by members. A shared domain of interest and joint enterprise implies that the

community possesses common interests and shared goals. Membership involves a commitment

to an endeavour that is considered relevant to all members of the community, and mutual

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accountability becomes an integral part of the practice (Wenger, 1998; Wenger et al., 2002).

The current CoP PD project was embedded within a cultural context to enhance a strong sense

of ownership in the communal environment and their engagement, interaction, and

relationships.

Although the teachers had attended previous PD programmes such as workshops,

seminars, their teaching problems remained. Issues such as ways to deal with students, the art

of giving feedback to students, or activities to teach English skills effectively were covered as

discussion topics in the CoP meetings. Thus, the joint enterprise developed was a product of

the teachers’ needs. All perceived the CoP as a valuable opportunity for them to update

knowledge and learn from each other. They had a more effective lesson when they applied what

they learned from the CoP, which led to their satisfaction with the CoP project. Mutual

engagement quickly developed through the CoP meeting preparation questions, the

establishment of the CoP as a safe place, and the teacher-based structure. The teachers raised

some hard-to-say issues which then helped themselves and other teachers to be honest about

their problems. This challenged their stereotypes and opened up a new discourse to reconcile

the conflicts in their professional identities (discussed in Chapters 4-5-6). Each teacher in the

CoP was an expert with knowledge about students, contexts, subjects, and resources, creating

a shared repertoire among the CoP members. In general, the data of this study aligned with

these elements of CoP from the literature.

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 CHAPTER 8: DISCUSSION

8.1 Introduction

Professional development is important for educational reform, teacher development, and

student outcomes. Traditional PD models have been critiqued as having limited benefits for

teachers, but recently collaborative PD models have been introduced in which teachers work

together in a community. Some researchers suggest that such an approach can be an alternative

to traditional models (e.g., T. Borg, 2012; Deni & Malakolunthu, 2013; Gast et al., 2017;

Mercieca, 2017; Yildirim, 2007). Collaborative models such as a community of practice (CoP),

professional learning communities (PLCs), language learning communities (LLCs), and action

research (AR) (see Chapters 1 and 2 for more information) have been recently introduced across

educational levels in Vietnam. While some benefits of these models have certainly emerged,

there are also some issues including a lack of trust and collegiality, a lack of collaboration, a

lack of voluntary participation, and a balance between top-down and bottom-up approaches

(Ha, 2013; V. C. Le, 2018; Ngoc, 2018; Q. N. Phan, 2017). The common model of empirical

studies on Vietnamese EFL teachers’ PI is to investigate EFL teachers who were trained in an

English-speaking country and returned to Vietnam to teach English. The literature review

indicates that little research has been conducted on the implementation process of a

collaborative PD model and the professional identity shift of EFL teachers who spend their

whole life working and teaching in Vietnam when they attend a collaborative PD. This study

has attempted to contribute to the limited empirical literature situated within the Vietnamese

context by investigating the CoP implementation process and its influences on the professional

identities and practices of a group of EFL teachers who were mainly locally trained.

This study seeks to answer one central research question and three sub-questions:

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How does participation in a community of practice influence the professional identities of

a group of Vietnamese EFL teachers?

- What factors make an effective community of practice for professional development for

Vietnamese EFL teachers?

- How does involvement/ participation in a community of practice change EFL teachers’

professional practice?

What are the issues/problems of teaching practice that the teachers raise/identify in a

community of practice?

What are the solutions/suggestions that they come up with to address those

issues/problems?

- How does involvement in a community of practice influence individual EFL teachers’

professional identity?

Multiple data sources have been used to answer these questions; the data have been presented

and analysed in the four findings chapters 4-5-6-7. From the analysis, three features emerged

that contributed substantially to the effectiveness and success of the CoP in the Vietnamese

context. A detailed discourse analysis of the data suggested that changes to teachers’ PI and

practice over the participation in the CoP were linked to discourse, power, and agency. In this

chapter, I will draw on different aspects of the findings presented in previous chapters to discuss

the key findings in relation to the research questions.

8.2 The CoP model for EFL teacher PD in Vietnam

This study employed the CoP concept - introduced by Lave and Wenger (1991) and further

developed by Wenger (1998) - as a PD model for EFL teachers in Vietnam. The findings of

this study indicated that the CoP was a successful PD model. In accordance with Wenger (1998)

and the wider literature, three significant elements - mutual engagement, joint enterprise, and

shared repertoires –were reflected in the principles and processes of the CoP. However, because

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the CoP was conducted in Vietnam, it also had some other unique features. Specifically, three

core components – connection, collaboration, and reflection – emerged from the data as critical

for successful CoP for EFL teacher in Vietnam. The Figure 8.1 is a visual representation of this

CoP model, referred to in the following as the CoP model for EFL teacher PD in Vietnam, that

has emerged from this research. The model illustrates how the central elements – connection,

collaboration, and reflection are linked in cyclic manner, suggesting that this is an ongoing and

recurring process, rather than part of a step-by-step process. The model also demonstrates how

the participants move from the periphery to the centre and back again. This means that

participants can move between the periphery of the CoP and the centre in a two-way process

rather than the unidirectional process from the periphery to the centre proposed by Lave and

Wenger (1991) (see Chapter 2). Below I elaborate and discuss three key components of this

model in relation to mutual engagement, joint enterprise, and shared repertoire as well as social

constructivism (Vygotsky, 1978).

Figure 8. 1:

The CoP Model for EFL Teacher PD in Vietnam

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8.2.1 Connection

According to Vygotsky (1978), learning and development do not reside in the individual, but

rather are socially constructed through the interconnectedness of the social context and the

individual (see Chapter 2). The social context mediates and impacts the individuals’ thinking,

learning, and development. Through interactions with others in person or via materials, learners

collaborate to achieve a shared goal. Thus, connection with individuals is the first thing needed

for learning to occur. In a CoP, connection becomes more significant because not everything

called a community is a community of practice. The community of practice is not made unless

members interact and learn together (Wenger, 1998). It takes time and effort to build a

community, and I argue that connection is vital for that. In this study, connection is understood

as not only bringing people closer together and building trust/collegiality and relationships, but

also making people commit to the activities they are involved in. In this research, connection

occurred between me as an EFL colleague and researcher and the participants, between the CoP

and the participants, and among all of us as EFL colleagues and participants in the community.

A key element of this connection was mutual engagement - the way members work together.

Wenger (1998) saw mutual engagement as the defining characteristic of a CoP. In this study,

the CoP was based on and in social relationships and connection boosted these. In my CoP

model, connection consists of four key characteristics – effective communication, stability,

ground rules, and shared practice that foster its establishment and maintenance – which will be

explained below.

Effective communication

Connection works by utilising effective communication. The findings showed that several

means of communication (face-to-face and technology-mediated communication) were used

during the CoP process and all supported connection.

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 According to research (Gallié & Guichard, 2005; J. S. Katz, 1994; Ponds et al., 2007),

physical proximity has a direct effect on the quality and frequency of collaboration. In terms of

face-to-face communication, the findings showed that the participants enjoyed and were

motivated by the in-person meetings where they interacted with each other. They not only

discussed their issues and constructed knowledge which benefited their PD, but they also

socialised and had fun with a shared lunch and informal chat. The data from the post-interviews

and reflective writing journals discussed in Chapter 7 indicated that the participants felt

comfortable and relaxed in the CoP. Nga and Hai stated that when there was a week off, they

missed the CoP, specifically the friendly and harmonious but professional dialogue with other

CoP members (Chapter 7). This demonstrated their connectedness or feeling of belonging to

the CoP.

Face-to-face communication in this study led to trust and commitment, which in turn

built up the participants’ connection to the CoP and the relationships among the CoP members.

Lazaric and Lorenz (1998) defined trust as “the belief that our collaborators will act in a way

designed to improve our situation rather than worsen it, in situations of uncertainty” (p. 217).

Trust is thus necessary whenever we are dealing with uncertainty. Trust building is also critical

for sharing (Gannon-Leary & Fontainha, 2010; Kirkup, 2002) – the process by which members

learn from each other and have opportunities to develop personally and professionally (Lave &

Wenger, 1991). People need to trust each other to work together (Olson & Olson, 2003). Trust

“primarily develops through face-to-face interactions” (Gannon-Leary & Fontainha, 2010, p.

241). The data from the artefacts indicated that individual talks with the CoP members had a

positive impact on building their trust and connection. For example, I had an informal talk with

Khanh when I saw his silence in the CoP meeting with was attended by a guest (see Chapter

7). The reason for this was he was afraid of losing face in front of the guest. A solution (not

inviting a guest) was then suggested and negotiated among the participants. Khanh later shared

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his ideas, experiences, and resources more. His connection was thus rebuilt as his trust in the

CoP was consolidated.

Effective communication began from the start of the project when the information was

sent to all the potential participants via email or Viber messenger. Many expressed their interest

and desire to participate in the CoP; but it was not until the in-person information meetings,

where they listened and asked questions they had about the project, that they decided whether

or not to participate in the CoP. The approach of sharing information via digital technology was

not sufficient to create connection, meaning that face-to-face engagements were also necessary.

Two reasons could explain this. First, this may have occurred because they were active

participants who wanted sufficient information to make up their minds on whether the CoP

suited them. This is supported by Ngo’s (2021) study which showed that EFL teachers are

active, not passive participants with their PD opportunities. They actively chose to attend PD

programmes that met their needs. The face-to-face interaction at the early stage in my study

was important to identify active participants who then would build a connection together.

Second, the participants in this study might have been influenced by the idea of “trăm nghe

không bằng một thấy” (seeing is believing) which means that one needed to see something

before being able to accept that it existed or occurred. Only when the participants met the ‘real’

me did they make a decision. In this way, trust was created via face-to-face interactions rather

than other forms of communication (paper, messages, or emails) which were sent to them

before. The meetings also increased their commitment to the CoP. This observation is similar

to Gallié and Guichard’s (2005) claim that seeing a person also makes the humanity of the

partner more salient: it makes one appear vulnerable in some cases, and it allows the

opportunity of finding similarities that lead to trust.

From my experience and observations, Vietnamese teachers normally find out about

PD programmes through advertisements of titles or key speakers; or they are told and assigned

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by their employers. A teacher in Dau’s (2020) study reported that “lecturers passively

participate in training programmes without any plan. They are even informed about a training

course today and have to participate in it tomorrow” (p. 191). Teachers attend PD, but some of

them hold a false commitment – “bằng mặt nhưng không bằng lòng” (happy face but not happy

heart). They might agree to attend PD as part of their responsibilities (PD is good for their

profession) or for other purposes such as promotion, job advancement, or career prestige, or

because there are told to (PD is good for institutions and policy implementation). However,

they have little agency to choose whether or not they attend, leading to a lack of trust and

commitment to the PD programmes they do attend. Tran (2016) stated that teachers of English-

specialised students sometimes resisted training courses that did not correspond to their

professional needs, that is, they protested the imposition of these courses and fought for agency.

The finding of this study thus suggests that face-to-face communication, especially at the initial

stage of introducing PD information should be taken into account. This will help avoid a

situation where there is interest but little trust and commitment to PD when teachers start to

participate. This study thus adds to our knowledge about the importance of and strategies for

building connections and maintaining commitment to a PD programme in the Vietnamese

context.

As discussed above, when people interact with each other in person, connection can

happen, largely because of proximity. However, with today’s modern communication

technologies, a means of technology-assisted communication might also help foster connection.

The finding of this study showed that using the Viber app facilitated the participants’

communication and increased connection. We reminded each other of the next CoP meeting

date, time, and location. We posted our questions or concerns regarding the topic before the

meeting. We read the summary of each meeting and made comments or complimented each

other. We shared links and sent screenshots about teaching related or general interest. We talked

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about other things such as our lunch and we joked with each other. This convenient means of

communication offered the group an informal platform to stay closely connected in addition to

the scheduled face-to-face interactions. Connection emerged because the participants

“sustained dense relations of mutual engagement organised around what they were there to do”

(Wenger, 1998, p. 78). While face-to-face remains the gold standard for trust building, rich

media can also prove to be very efficient (Rocco et al., 2001). According to Rocco et al. (2001),

technologies that provide immediate feedback and available channels for interpreting

communication cues may be effective in terms of engaging with each other and fostering

emotional trust.

Stability

The next feature that creates connection relates to stability. This CoP project had eight

participants attending from start to finish. As mentioned above, when a guest was invited to

one CoP meeting - i.e., became a new member - Khanh simply listened and sat quietly because

he felt unsafe and insecure in the presence of the new person. We decided not to invite new

members, so it was just eight members from the beginning to the end of the CoP. As a result,

the participants felt free to talk, share, express their ideas on their teaching experience, teaching

problems, weaknesses, and give genuine feedback to others. They felt connected like a family.

This finding highlights the importance of stability of membership for developing connection,

and this also links to their participation level (Wenger, 1998) which is discussed later in this

chapter.

Although the stable membership was important to the CoP in this study, a CoP should

not establish a border or boundary through which no one may ever enter; instead, the boundary

should be fluid (Wenger et al., 2002). However, newcomers may disrupt the CoP’s

effectiveness if the connection is still loose. It takes time to develop the participants’ trust,

relationship, and connection, and it is necessary to first set up a stable community before

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considering bringing in new members or opening it to new people. Once the CoP is stable, new

members who are expected to bring new knowledge can join the CoP (Wenger, 1998; Wenger

et al., 2002). Stability helps guarantee the connection of the CoP and the commitments of

members over time. This leads to the idea that connection is not just a starting point, or a step

in a process but is a cycle. Connection is built, rebuilt, or redefined in response to different

people and for different reasons. In this sense, connections continue to develop and deepen in

a cycle when there is stability.

Ground rules

Agreed ways of working together enhances a sense of safety, security, comfort, and respect for

the CoP members. Traditionally, teachers have participated in PD programmes that are

governed by PD organisers or providers. They follow ground rules set for them rather than

using their own voices to set rules which can protect them or facilitate their learning in PD.

Setting ground rules was thus a novel experience for the teachers in this study, and this activity

was also the very first one that the participants did together. Key ground rules were that no one

would judge anyone else, everyone would contribute to the CoP, feedback would be

constructive, and being honest was critical. The findings showed that the CoP was a safe place

for the participants as they felt free, comfortable, and willing to give their opinions and share

their experiences, even about something ‘sensitive’, ‘hard-to-say’ or weaknesses (see Chapter

7). Ground rules also created a clear sense of the community and distinguished the CoP from

other organisations, combinations, groups, or meetings of teachers. These findings are

consistent with the literature that teachers are more likely to interact/collaborate openly and

honestly with those whom they feel comfortable sharing their thoughts with, without fear of

judgment (e.g., T. S. Farrell, 2008; S. Katz & Earl, 2010; Poehner, 2011; Vo & Nguyen, 2010).

Teachers can “get more than suggestions on how to solve a problem” in a safe learning

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environment (Poehner, 2011, p. 198). Ground rules create the sense of safety, comfort, and

belonging, and this fosters connection among members as well as facilitates their interactions.

As described in Chapter 2, Vietnamese teachers are accustomed to obtaining a body of

knowledge from their trainers in their teaching training courses or PD programmes. T.H.M

Nguyen (2014) discovered that pre-service teachers’ relationships with their university teacher

trainers and high school supervisors were characterised by excessive fear of their trainers and

supervisors. Moreover, the Confucian heritage culture values “kính trên nhường dưới” (respect

the elder, make concessions to the younger) in which the relationship between novice and

experienced teachers is hierarchical. Ha (2013) observed that novice teachers hesitated to raise

their voices due to this cultural barrier. The ground rules in this study helped overcome the

power relationship between novice and experienced teachers, or young and old teachers, while

allowing participants to maintain face within the CoP.

“Thể diện” – the Vietnamese concept of face, which is made up of “social roles and

role-driven characteristics, positive qualities, and achievements” (T. H. N. Pham, 2014, p. 225),

helps to explain why teachers in this study felt safe in the CoP. According to Phan and Locke

(2016), Vietnamese people are more likely to display good qualities and conceal anything

which might potentially harm their dignity and attract social criticism. Walker and Dimmock

(2000) argued that Confucian teachers are “generally reluctant to admit to their own

weaknesses, or problems, typically responding in ways suggesting that they do not have any

problems” (p.172). It can be argued that because of the concern for face loss and public image,

by updating their professional knowledge and pedagogical skills regularly, teachers are better

able to maintain their occupational prestige. From a Vietnamese cultural perspective, protecting

each other’s face in public also indicates good collaboration (Dang, 2013). As a result, it is

critical for CoP planners to acknowledge the concept of face as a significant cultural effect on

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teachers’ professional growth and pay careful attention to EFL teachers’ concern about face

and public image when communicating in the CoP.

Shared practice

Shared practice is the fourth important characteristic for fostering connection in the CoP. As

the name suggests, practice is the heart of a CoP and distinguishes it from other communities.

The findings showed that the teachers in this study shared the practice of EFL teaching; they

had knowledge, skills, experience, stories, tools, problems, and solutions related to their EFL

teaching and students. Moreover, the participants in this study were in the same faculty and

university, so they shared teaching and learning contexts, challenges, student-related issues,

and institutional requirements associated with EFL teaching. Their shared practice was teaching

EFL to tertiary students who were non-English majors at the university, and this brought them

closer. In turn, when they were engaging in conversations, they shared and developed a set of

stories and cases that became a shared repertoire for their practice (Wenger, 1998). However,

it should be noted that shared practice connects the participants in ways that are diverse and

complex (Wenger, 1998). The participants in this study differed in age, subjects taught,

personal and professional experience, and gender. They had different personal aspirations for

PD as well as different problems they faced in their teaching. However, shared practice

connected them in ways that included both harmony and conflicts. Disagreement, challenges,

and competition, which have been analysed in Chapters 6 and 7, are all forms of participation

and reveal “a greater commitment than does passive conformity” (Wenger, 1998, p. 77).

Phan (2017) also observed that teachers turned to their familiar colleagues to discuss

problems with rather than colleagues from other schools. They felt more connected with those

with whom they shared similar teaching practices and contexts. My study did not support other

studies (V. C. Le & Nguyen, 2012; Saito et al., 2008; Saito & Tsukui, 2008) that claimed that

Vietnamese teachers in the same school lacked professional dialogue or communication due to

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a lack of trust in their relationships or their common tendency to judge their peer teachers and

students. The reason for this might be that the teachers in this study felt safe, trusted, and

connected due to the ground rules they set together and the way the CoP was organised.

To summarise, effective communication, stability, ground rules, and a shared practice

are all features that foster the establishment of connection between CoP participants. These

features were well developed from the start and throughout the CoP and served as a bridge to

facilitate a more difficult characteristic – collaboration – which is considered uncommon in the

Vietnamese context (Vo & Nguyen, 2010) and is discussed in the next section.

8.2.2 Collaboration

Collaboration is defined as mutual engagement of the group, where group members work

together and perform actions towards a common goal (Dillenbourg, 1999; Roschelle & Teasley,

1995; Yow & Lim, 2019). Collaboration is one of the primary ways to improve teacher

professionality (Reh, 2008 cited in Bush & Grotjohann, 2020) and studies have shown that

schools with highly collaborative teachers have a better school quality, healthier teachers (Bush

& Grotjohann, 2020), and greater success with change (M. W. McLaughlin, 1990). However,

realising teacher collaboration in practice has proven to be challenging (Vangrieken et al.,

2015). Despite much effort to increase the amount of collaboration, teachers still do not

collaborate sufficiently (Johnston & Tsai, 2018; OECD, 2005, 2009).

Collaboration also does not appear to be a common habit among EFL teachers in

Vietnam (Vo & Nguyen, 2010). Empirical studies have pointed out that Vietnamese teachers

at the same school lacked professional dialogue or communication due to a lack of trust in their

relationships or their common tendency to judge their peer teachers and students (V. C. Le &

Nguyen, 2012; Saito et al., 2008; Saito & Tsukui, 2008). Phan (2017) reported that there was

collaboration among EFL teachers at primary school levels; however, due to trust or collegiality

not being sufficiently developed and prioritised, teachers tended not to be open and frank in

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their sharing when discussing issues. This suggests that connection, with a strong focus on

relationship, trust, and commitment building is vital to make collaboration work well and

conversely, collaboration, once well-developed, positively influences connection. EFL teachers

in Ngo’s (2021) study also reported a lack of PD activities in which they collaborated with each

other.

The findings of this thesis suggest that the teachers worked together effectively; they

actively interacted to exchange professional ideas, share teaching experience, resources, and

resolve problems to achieve a shared goal. In this way, the teachers socially constructed their

knowledge and learned from each other. In the CoP model for EFL teacher PD in Vietnam in

figure 8.1, collaboration was found to consist of three key characteristics that foster its

establishment, namely co-facilitation, relevant content, and the mix of novice and experienced

teachers. These characteristics will be discussed in the following sections.

Co-facilitation

The findings of this study data demonstrate that co-facilitation fostered collaboration. The

teachers took turn to facilitate CoP meetings in which they fostered discussions, enhanced the

experience for the members, and gave suggestions based on their knowledge, experiences, and

materials (handouts, books, slides). What they brought to the CoP consisted of their own

understanding accumulated from their teaching experience and from what they learned at

previous PD programmes. Their exchange of ideas was thus informal, friendly, easy to

understand, context-specific, and applicable. Because the main purpose of the CoP was to share

and learn from each other rather than to transfer knowledge, and because each member became

a facilitator of at least one meeting, the participants were open to sharing, felt free to express

their ideas without fear of judgment, and welcomed any comments and feedback to

(re)construct their knowledge and understanding. The findings are in line with research that

found that teachers are more likely to interact/collaborate openly and honestly with those whom

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they feel comfortable sharing their thoughts with, without fear of judgment (e.g., T. S. Farrell,

2008; S. Katz & Earl, 2010; Poehner, 2011; Vo & Nguyen, 2010).

Co-facilitation, I would argue, demonstrates a symmetrical structure which results in

truly collaborative interactions (Dillenbourg, 1999). According to Dillenbourg (1999), in a

symmetrical structure, each participant has access to the same range of actions. This contrasts

with the typical division of labour in cooperative learning structures where partners split up the

work, solve sub-tasks individually, and then put their respective contributions together.

Symmetry of knowledge occurs when all participants have roughly the same level of

knowledge, despite their different perspectives. The participants in this study shared their

practice of EFL teaching at the tertiary level and had strengths in their own subject matter.

Symmetry of status involves collaboration among peers rather than interactions involving

supervisor/subordinate relationships. There were no leaders in the CoP; instead, the group is

based solely on the relationships among colleagues protected by the ground rules they set

together. Finally, symmetry of goals involves common group goals rather than individual goals

that may conflict (Dillenbourg, 1999). The participants negotiated and discussed their shared

enterprise (goal) about how to teach EFL effectively to non-English major students. When

teachers share the same goals and values, collaboration is more likely despite the barriers to

collaboration (Brook et al., 2007).

In the context of Vietnam, this CoP model seemed unique in comparison to other PD

programmes. Specifically, studies have shown that EFL teachers in PLCs (Q. N. Phan, 2017)

and CoPs (Ha, 2013) involving subject matter experts and facilitators found that their ideas

were sometimes stifled and their facilitation and collaboration limited. It seems likely that the

presence of outside experts resulted in a similar lack of symmetry of status and knowledge in

these PD models. My study thus adds to the understanding of building a collaborative learning

environment for EFL teachers in Vietnam by showing that we do not need a top-down solution

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to change the structure but a bottom-up solution to change the culture within the teaching staff

in order to implement collaborative working habits among teachers.

In addition, the findings strongly suggest that the teachers’ learning processes in the

CoP were no longer seen as a “matter of apprenticing oneself as a novice to someone who is

skilled and more experienced” (Hargreaves, 2000, p. 155) or the acquisition of an inventory

knowledge, skills, and understandings about teaching designed by experts for one setting and

applied in any other teaching context regardless of whether they are suitable or not (Kelly,

2006). Instead, the teachers together collaborated on reading materials, raising problems,

suggesting ideas, giving comments and feedback, sharing knowledge that they learned from

previous PD programmes and their practical experience in which they linked theory and

practice with successful and unsuccessful stories. In this way, they collaborated to construct a

teaching knowledge that was embedded in their particular teaching practice. The findings

suggest that the CoP’s activities helped the participants establish and re-establish links between

theory and practice in a way that they might not usually do in other PD programmes. In other

words, the teachers learned to develop both knowledge for practice and knowledge of practice

(Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999).

One issue should be noted in relation to co-facilitation. The CoP is a loosely structured

and hierarchy-free community, and members participate of their own volition. However, to

move from the periphery of the community to the centre, sufficient participation is necessary.

Co-facilitation, which enables each member to participate as a leader and facilitator of a

meeting, contributes to the movement from the periphery to the centre of the CoP. With co-

facilitation, each member can activate connections and motivate collaboration.

Apart from demonstrating a movement from the periphery to the core, this CoP model

for EFL teacher PD in Vietnam also indicates how the participants move back again from the

core to the periphery. The findings indicate that the participants took turns to move into the

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centre or move out to the edge depending on the topic of discussion and their co-facilitation

status. I used to think that I should encourage all community members to participate equally.

However, this expectation is unrealistic because people have different levels of interest in the

community.

The findings align with the literature regarding levels of participation in CoPs by

Wenger et al. (2002). According to Wenger et al. (2002), there are three main levels of

community participation. The first is a small core group of people who actively participate in

the community activities such as discussion, debates, community projects, and identifying

topics to address. This core group takes on much of the community’s leadership. The next level

outside this core group is the active group. These members attend meetings regularly. Both

groups make up a small proportion of the community members. A large portion of members

are peripheral and rarely participate. Instead, they keep to the sidelines, watching the interaction

of the core and active members. Some remain peripheral because they feel that their

observations are not appropriate for the whole group or carry no authority. Others do not have

time to contribute more actively. In a traditional meeting or team, we would discourage such

half-hearted involvement, but these peripheral activities are an essential dimension of CoPs.

Indeed, people on the sidelines often are not as passive as they seem. Like people sitting at a

café watching the activity on the street, they gain their own insights from the discussions and

put them to good use. In their own way, they are learning a lot. Nga and Hai – two novice

teachers - were peripheral members because they had little experience on topics such as “How

to deal with students with disruptive behaviours”. They listened more than they talked and

shared. However, as young and beginning teachers who wanted to learn and make the most of

this PD opportunity, they eagerly and actively raised questions, searched, and read reading

materials to share with others. They became core members when they facilitated the meetings

on the topics of technology and skills that they specialised in.

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 Thus, the CoP members moved through these levels. The participants moved out to the

sidelines or moved into the core as the topics of the community shifted. Active members might

be deeply engaged, then disengage. Peripheral members drifted into the centre as their interest

was stirred. This led to the fluidity of the boundaries of the community when the focus of the

community shifted to different areas of interest and expertise. This leads to my suggestion for

establishing a CoP, that is, the key to good CoP participation and a healthy degree of movement

between levels is to design community activities that allow participants at all levels to feel like

full members. In other words, rather than force participation, understanding how busy they are

and how confident they are would help them more.

Relevant content

Relevant content in the CoP promotes collaboration and engagement. PD in Vietnam is often

expert-led and aims to transfer knowledge and skills to teachers so that they can improve their

performance as well as students’ outcome in their own context. PD for EFL teachers have also

been heavily “top-down” as it focuses on meeting the needs of the government and institutions,

not necessarily the needs of teachers (Dau, 2020; V. C. Le, 2020a; V. T. Nguyen, 2018; Tuyet,

2015) (see more in Chapter 1). Thus, Ngo (2021) observed that teachers in her study attended

many workshops and short-training courses which focused on teaching methods, classroom

management, and research skills; however, they expressed a wish to engage in more PD

opportunities that could address specific needs they had in classrooms.

In the CoP model used in the present study, the participants selected their own topics

for discussion; together they addressed any teaching problems and thus applied what they

learned instantly to their classrooms (see Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7). The topics they chose varied and

they were cultural and context-specific and met their needs. Prior to their participation in the

CoP, the participants appeared to have conflicting identities and teaching struggles (see

Chapters 4, 5, and 6). They wanted to achieve knowledge and morality; however, most PD

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programmes highlighted the former over the latter. The findings of this study demonstrate that

cultural and contextual factors became vital as they influenced both teachers’ professional

identities and their teaching practice. In the CoP, the participants had opportunities to raise and

address these issues related to culture and context (respect, fear, teacher image, student-related

knowledge) along with knowledge about English language teaching (teaching methods,

classroom management, English skills). They were active participants and actively collaborated

with each other as they were motivated and interested in these topics. In the CoP, they raised

issues, shared ideas, listened attentively, asked for clarity, learned from each other, understood,

and could hold the different aspects of identity in productive tension as a moral guide, a

knowledge transmitter, and a facilitator. In this way, they developed hybrid identities, which is

the focus of the next section of professional identities.

The mix of novice and experienced teachers

The involvement of both experienced and novice teachers in the CoP also enhanced

collaboration. The findings of this study showed that there was reciprocity between experienced

and novice teachers which made their collaboration meaningful and effective. With rich

teaching and PD experience, more experienced teachers contributed ideas related to teaching

methods strategies and classroom and student-related management. With youthful vitality and

cutting-edge technology know-how, the young teachers conveyed hands-on technology skills

and raised questions for discussion. While the experienced teachers shared books and hand-

outs, the novice teachers shared apps, websites, and online resources. The novices asked

questions, the experienced shared what they have learned after years in the classroom. The

experienced teachers explained how they managed class incidents or coped with difficult

students; the novices instructed how technology was applied in class to make students excited.

In this way, the findings indicate that both experienced and novice teachers shared what they

were strong at, and their collaboration became meaningful and effective. They learned from

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each other as they saw value in the others’ experience and expertise. During the reciprocal

process, the novice and experienced teachers took turns in multiple roles (facilitator, leader,

listener, respondent). For example, as a leader, they employed several strategies to direct

discussion: asking questions, summarising responses, clarifying misunderstandings, and

supporting predictions about upcoming text content. This finding is consistent with Fuller et

al.’s (2005) research which showed that all members of the CoP can potentially contribute to

the CoP. All stakeholders are seen as “necessary, expert, and generative co-participants and co-

partners” (Dunston et al., 2009, p. 40).

Social constructivism helps understand this finding as it emphasises the importance of

heterogeneous groupings of collaborators and the benefits of collaboration whenever

participants differ in terms of their initial skill levels. According to Vygotsky (1978), the Zone

of Proximal Development is the distance between what a learner can accomplish individually

and what he/she can accomplish with the help of a more capable “other”. Studies in the

Vygotskian tradition frequently pair children with adults and socio-culturalists view

collaborative learning as learning that occurs within the zone of proximal development. In this

study, each member had a different zone of proximal development, a more capable other could

be a novice or experienced teacher, and their heterogenous groupings brought effective

collaboration. Wenger (1998) also noted that shared practice connects the participants to each

other in ways that are diverse and complex. The CoP benefited all the teacher participants in

different ways. In the CoP, what the participants learned was not always about subject matter

knowledge, teaching skills, or methodologies, but it was about the spirit, habit, or something

intangible. For example, according to Hong, what benefited her most from her participation in

the CoP was a sense of re-energisation. Most of the experienced teachers learned that they

needed to keep learning and updating their knowledge and skills (especially in terms of

technology) in order not to lag behind the novice teachers.

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 These findings suggest that the CoP model for EFL teacher PD in Vietnam was

significantly different from the original CoP model. Lave and Wenger (1991) and Wenger

(1998) saw experienced members with knowledge and skills at the core of the CoP. They are

there to assist novices who are at the edge of the CoP. The novice, with assistance from the

experienced, will progress into the centre, becoming the experienced. Their learning is called

legitimate peripheral participation. In my CoP model, the roles were fluid; the participants

moved between the margins and the centre as they were learning from one another. Thus, both

experienced and novice were MKO, scaffolding others’ learning with their knowledge and

areas of expertise (see more in Co-facilitation section).

Moreover, the findings are also different from some empirical studies regarding

heterogeneity. For example, Ngo (2021) stated that as the mid-career and late-career EFL

teachers in her study had achieved more advanced levels of professional knowledge and skills

compared to the beginning teachers, they tended to choose to take part in more job-embedded

PD activities that they felt were important and applicable to enhance their expertise, such as

writing papers for publication, conducting action research projects, or supervising students’

theses. She suggested that PD in Vietnam should be career stage - specific. In contrast, my

findings suggested that interactions between novice and experienced teachers in the CoP as a

PD model created benefits for both as collaboration among members was fostered.

8.2.3 Reflection

Reflection is a crucial process within communities of practice (Daniel et al., 2013). Critical

reflective capacities were considered by Walkington (2005, p. 59) to represent a “core activity”

in professional practice and professional engagement. While teaching experience itself does

not guarantee improved practice (Widodo & Ferdiansyah, 2018), in pursuit of high quality

teacher education programmes and PD activities, reflection has received wider attention. In this

study, reflection was vital to make the CoP model work effectively in the context of Vietnam.

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The teachers came to the CoP to learn and to develop their profession. The teachers would self-

assess their teaching knowledge (e.g., beliefs, perceptions, assumptions) and practice, as well

as share their thinking and practices with other CoP members. Without reflection, the teachers

could not identify their problems or link theory and practice as well as had no stories to share.

From the analysis of the data, three characteristics that fostered reflection in the CoP were

identified. The characteristics dialogue, the cycle of reflection, and reflection-on-action and

re0flection-for-action are discussed below.

Dialogue

The first characteristic fostering refection relates to dialogue. The data showed that prior to

their interactions in the CoP, the participants employed certain tactics and strategies for

managing their English classrooms. These strategies may have been effective or ineffective in

their own judgements. They reflected on the strategies in dialogue with their colleagues during

the CoP. Chien’s (2013) study highlights professional communication with colleagues as one

of the factors that result in more analysis in teachers’ reflective journals for better teaching

practice. In a similar vein, Farrell (2008) asserted that teachers construct their professional

identities and knowledge of teaching more easily while they reflect in a group of peer teachers

with diverse perspectives.

Dialogue with colleagues can also challenge the dominant discourses in teacher

professional identity (PI) construction and open up another space for teachers to negotiate their

hybrid PI. Teaching has historically been practised as a predominantly solitary act (M.

McLaughlin & Talbert, 2001; Pomson, 2005). This notion encourages “norms of professional

autonomy” (M. McLaughlin & Talbert, 2001, p. 2) that require individual responsibility and

self-reliance in the profession. This solitary nature of teaching is visible in the “traditional

culture of teaching in which colleagues do not tell each other what to do” (Carver & Katz, 2004,

p. 460). Moreover, the isolation of the individual teacher has been further entrenched in

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structures that emphasise increased competition between teachers, for example in notions of

performance-based pay, teacher prestige and image. For teachers who are influenced by the

Confucian culture, it seems to them that knowledge is a possession of teachers, making teachers

competitive with their colleagues, and making students reliant on them and their knowledge.

As such, they can have high status and prestige, and knowledge becomes a private rather than

shared capital, further limiting the collaborative progress of the profession.

The findings of this study illustrate these ideas. Hai stated that she often worked in

isolation, and when she found problems in her teaching, she would try to solve them on her

own (Chapter 4). Nga, seeing students’ tiredness or boredom in her class, thought she knew

why they acted like that without asking them. She also worked in isolation to solve her problem

with students (Chapter 4). In the pre-interview with Hong, she revealed that sharing, especially

sharing teaching resources, was not common among EFL teachers in Vietnam. In the past, she

had held the belief that teaching resources were vital for teachers, making teachers competitive

with their colleagues in order to appeal to students. In other words, teachers tended to keep

teaching materials private, not to be shared with others. Thus, the picture emerges of teachers

who are responsible for and focused on teaching in their own classrooms, isolated from

collegial support, which limits opportunities for growth. The dialogue with the CoP members

who they felt connected to helped them express genuine ideas and give honest feedback,

allowing them to constantly reconsider and challenge their assumptions and renew or

renegotiate their professional identities and practices.

The cycle of reflection

The second characteristic of effective reflection is the cycle of reflection. The CoP set aside a

regular time and routine for the teachers to reflect; for example, writing reflective journals at

the end of each CoP meeting, and sometimes before the meeting through a question-raising

activity. In the routine of writing reflections, the teachers were given a piece of paper with

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guided questions (see Appendix F). These questions asked the teachers to reflect on how they

participated in the CoP meeting, what they learned from the meeting, how they felt about the

meeting, and what they planned to apply in their classrooms. Using such questions helped me

learn more about the CoP implementation process and uncover underlying thoughts that the

teachers might not reveal in dialogue. Moreover, this also helped the teachers get into the habit

of engaging in reflection. For example, according to Hai, the greatest change after her

participation in the CoP was that she had developed a habit of reflection. Before the CoP, she

focused on lesson plans, devoted her time and energy to design beautiful slides, think of

activities and games, and find supplementary materials to motivate students in class. She

finished her lessons, went back home, and started to prepare for the following day’s lessons.

Sometimes she noticed problems but she either tried to resolve them alone or ignore them

altogether. During the CoP, she regularly reflected on her teaching so that she would have

questions to ask other CoP members. Reflection helped Hai develop critical questions about

herself and her teaching and have the courage to find meaningful and honest answers. This, in

turn, consolidated collaboration and connection in the CoP. I argue that this practice was

important for reflection and the CoP success as well. Traditional PD programmes often have

no activities, or if they do, there is only one reflection form at the end of the whole programme.

Reflection-on-action and reflection-for-action

What I have discussed above seems to relate to the concepts of reflection-on-action, which

takes place after an event has occurred, and reflection-in-action, which takes place during an

action (Schön, 1983). Specifically, the teachers reflected on their teaching practice to identify

issues which then became the topics for CoP discussions and to have stories to share with other

members. At the end of each CoP, the participants reflected on the CoP meeting they had just

attended. Moreover, the data showed that some questions in reflective journals or during the

discussions (see Chapter 6) asked the teachers to think about future actions such as what they

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would apply in their classrooms, or what they expected to discuss in the next CoP meeting,

with the intention of improving or changing a practice. This type of practice required the

teachers to anticipate what would happen during their class or CoP meeting, as well as reflect

on their past experiences, before their lessons or the CoP meetings occurred. This is an example

of reflection-for-action (Olteanu, 2017).

Based on reflection, some modifications for the CoP were made. For research purposes,

written reflections were required. However, for the CoP effectiveness, as a member of the CoP,

I collected, noted down the participants’ comments and feedbacks, including their feelings

towards the CoP, and shared with them with the group to find better ways to facilitate the CoP.

In this way, reflection fostered collaboration and connection among the CoP members because

their voices and ideas were valued, acknowledged, and taken into consideration. It made the

participants feel valued, centred, and empowered. In turn, as connection and collaboration were

strengthened, the teachers intended to give genuine, honest feedback, and openly share ideas,

which then lead to more valuable and meaningful reflections. Reflection works in this model

because the group had established strong connection and collaboration features which made the

participants feel free and comfortable to express their ideas.

I would suggest that this activity could also be oral and is not limited to a written format.

For those who are interested in adapting this model for use in various contexts, I would advise

that either a method for reacting to reflections be established with the group as a whole or that

someone be in charge of the activity. If someone was to be in charge, the CoP should nominate

a member for the responsibility of reading written reflections and facilitating oral reflection

discussions. Moreover, CoP members may share the responsibility for this activity or shift the

role around. There is no need to have an administrator involved in the CoP. The practice of

sharing reflections with the group was also commented on by Schön (1983), who suggested

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that the reflective practitioner engages in reflective practice at both the individual and group

levels.

8.3 The impact of the CoP on EFL teachers’ professional identities

As stated in Chapters 1 and 2, in the current era of globalisation, language teachers’

construction of identity and practice has been situated in the transnational milieu (Canagarajah,

2012; Menard-Warwick, 2008; C. D. Nguyen, 2017b). The predominant model is one in which

non-native English speaking teachers (NNESTs) with EFL backgrounds have constructed and

negotiated their multiple identities (national, cultural, and professional) while pursuing

postgraduate studies or relocating to Anglophone countries (T. T. H. Le, 2012; T. T. H. Le &

Phan, 2013; T. T. H. Nguyen, 2017; L. H. Phan, 2007, 2008; Samimy et al., 2011). Under this

model, teachers learned new pedagogies and socialised with the local people and other

international students using English as the medium of communication. As a result of their

experiences in both intercultural contexts and home countries, they underwent profound

transformations in their beliefs and practices. However, the majority of TESOL teachers

worldwide today are non-native English speakers who have spent their lives pursuing careers

in their home country (Canagarajah, 1999). It means that not all teachers have access to

transnational spaces for their PD. Most would have had almost no chance to socialise or develop

their profession in transnational contexts (study or residency in English-speaking countries for

instance). The findings of this study suggest that the CoP can create a space for teachers to

(re)construct their identity and practice in a non-native English context. My model in Figure

8.1 shows how the CoP works in the Vietnamese context as well as how EFL teachers learn in

the CoP. In this section, I will discuss the transformation in EFL teachers’ professional

identities and practices through discourses, conflicts, hybridity, power, and agency to address

the second and third research questions.

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8.3.1 Discourses, conflicts, and hybridity

As discussed in Chapter 2, discourse is multiple, and each of us is a member of many discourses

(Gee, 2011). There are thus many possibilities for the teacher participants to construct their

professional identities. The data collected before CoP commenced show that the participants

were subject to various discourses made available to them including experience, English

language proficiency, Confucian, constructivist teaching, and institutional discourses.

All these discourses influenced the way the participants constructed their professional

identities. For example, within the discourse of experience, Nga viewed herself as a young,

enthusiastic but inexperienced teacher while Hong identified herself as an old, tired but

experienced, knowledgeable, and willing-to-share teacher (Chapter 4). Within the discourses

of Confucian and constructivist teaching, Thuy, Nga, and Hai rejected the identity of teacher

as knowledge transmitters and idealised the image of teacher as a facilitator or guide while

Khanh, Thu, Thi and Hong had mostly reconciled the conflicts of such discourses (Chapter 6).

Nga and Hai tried to make students respect them by maintaining a social distance between

teachers and students, but they also wanted to be close to students. Thuy wanted to be more

liked by students, but often punished students for their “mistakes and disruptive behaviours”.

Within the English language proficiency discourse, most of the participants felt confident in

relation to native-speaking teachers in terms of culturally appropriate teaching methodology

and student expectations. Although they did not feel confident with their English language

proficiency, which decreased over years of their service and in comparison with students’

increasingly higher English level, yet, they still viewed themselves as good teachers. As can be

seen, there have always been conflicts among these discourses leading to the conflicts and

tensions in the participants’ professional identities.

The tensions between Confucian and constructivist teaching and learning ideas and

approaches are evident in this study. In Vietnam, those who work as teachers are expected to

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be role models for students, novice colleagues and the wider community; in other words, they

should be both ethical and knowledgeable. This cultural norm can be traced back to the

Confucian influence on Vietnamese education (T. L. Lu, 2017; L. H. Pham & Fry, 2005).

Confucian Heritage Culture, which dates all the way back to 500 BC in ancient China, views

teachers as holders of the highest standards of knowledge and morality. Accordingly, teachers

must act, speak, and live as good role models; otherwise, students will lose faith in them and

their instruction (T. L. Lu, 2017). Scholars suggest that this influence has impacted the

prominence and importance of learning for Vietnamese people and their respect for what is

considered a very noble profession. As exemplary ethical and knowledgeable individuals,

teachers are required to meet not only the public’s cultural expectations but also those expressed

in national policies. The teachers in this study paid attention to the language they used to

communicate with students, the clothes they wore to class, the rules and how strict they are

with students to make them behave better. In this way, they wanted to be role models for

students, wanted students to respect them. They also conveyed the belief that their knowledge

(content, methodology, and students) made them a good teacher. However, the constructivist

teaching and learning approaches have influenced EFL teaching, so there is an expectation to

be a facilitator, scaffold students’ learning, use modern teaching methodologies in classrooms,

and establish friendly relationships with students. Large class size, heavy workload, poor

salaries, policies, and requirements make it hard for teachers to reach these goals. Age,

especially youth, also constrained teachers to perform as a role model or knowledge authority

in class or in front of students. In Vietnam, organisations, institutions, and society are

hierarchical. Seniors receive respect from juniors and young people while the voices of youth

are not often valued. Elders rarely accept the initiatives, opinions, or critiques of young people;

they expect to be respected for their experience, knowledge, and wisdom (Ashwill & Diep,

2005). This is reflected in the Vietnamese proverb “trứng mà đòi khôn hơn vịt” (the egg cannot

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be as clever as the duck), which means that age is an asset, not a liability. In other words, age

is a symbol of power and respect (Truong, 2013).

The findings are consistent with social constructionism in that all ways of understanding

(including knowledge about ourselves) are historically and culturally specific and that identity

is multiple and a site of conflict. The participants faced “the complexities of belonging both

‘here’ and ‘there’” (Suarez-Orozco, 2001, p. 354) simultaneously, and of potentially being

‘other’ in both contexts. The results from studies into PD of EFL teachers in Vietnam by Tran

(2016) also supported that there is a strong link between cultural values and lecturers’ sense of

professional identities. Dau (2020) found that Vietnamese EFL teachers’ attempts to achieve

the laudable Confucian ideals of ethics and knowledge were fraught with tensions,

contradictions, and uncertainties. They not only fell short of Vietnamese social and political

expectations but also struggled to respond to them.

The findings of this thesis suggest that taking part in the CoP model provided space for

the EFL teachers to construct and reconstruct their professional identities and practices,

specifically the development of hybrid identities. In the context of transnationality, hybridity

has become one of the most important notions relating to identity formation of different groups

of people, communities, places, and nations. This notion, however, does not enjoy a unitary

definition. Homi Bhabha is perhaps one of the first scholars to develop and theorise the concept

of hybridity. Hybridity, Bhabha (1990) maintained, is an ongoing process and is important in

making new cultural meaning. In his own words:

All forms of culture are continually in a process of hybridity. But for me the importance

of hybridity is not to be able to trace two original moments from which the third

emerges, rather hybridity to me is the “third space” which enables other positions to

emerge (Bhabha, 1990, p. 211).

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Like Bhabha, Koehne (2005) suggested that moving into another culture provides an

opportunity for the creation of a “third space” and the subsequent construction of hybrid

identities. Hybridity is “a difference “within”, a difference without binary terms” (Hallward,

2001, p. 24). This suggests that hybrid identities exist in a state of tension, constant negotiation,

interaction, and renewal. When two cultures meet, hybrid identities take shape, and new

discourses are created (Verbaan & Cox, 2014); a new identity is created that incorporates

elements of two identities while still being something new.

The findings of this study show that there was a sense of hybridity in the identity

construction undertaken by the participants when the CoP provided room for them to explore,

learn from other members and understand a range of different identity positions from a range

of discourses. For example, Thuy’s tensions were that on the one hand, she wanted students to

listen to her instruction, respect and like her; and she wanted to help students as a facilitator;

on the other hand, she punished them for their mistakes or disruptive behaviours in the

classrooms, leading to their fear as well as disrespect towards her. Thuy’s identity story mainly

related to her relationship with students. Once her knots were untied with the help of the CoP,

Thuy identified herself as a teacher who was “soft, flexible, and agile” in classrooms and in

interactions with students (Chapter 7). She no longer mentioned the identity of Confucian

teacher (which she rejected) or of constructivist teacher (which she idealised and aimed at).

The negotiation and renewal of her professional identity were supported by the safe, secure,

and supportive space of the CoP.

Hybridity is often simplified as merely the “mixing” of two cultures or two languages.

However, Hall (1992) pointed out that in hybridity, individuals “learn to inhabit two identities,

to speak two cultural languages, to translate and negotiate between them” (p.310), but “the

…hybrid is not only double-voiced and double-accented…but it is also double-languaged; for

in it there are not only (and not even so much) two individual consciousnesses, two voices, two

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accents” (S. Hall & Du Gay, 1996, p. 58). Understandings of hybridity in terms of language

and identity indicates complexity that goes beyond two identities simply overlapping,

assimilating with, and contradicting each other.

Instead, hybridity is created through contact with multiple spaces. Thus, in this study,

hybridity was created in the CoP when the participants interacted with each other and

understood the multiple discourses. The participants saw themselves no longer the same as they

used to be and different from Confucian or constructivist teachers, as from novice or

experienced teachers. They constructed their own PI which varied from one teacher to another.

This process of identity formation applied differently to every one of them and varied according

to their own circumstances.

The participants’ existing values or perceptions were subject to transformation,

examination, confirmation, and disconfirmation; consequently, something hybrid was created;

but it did not make them totally new individuals. Rather the process of identity formation works

similarly to reconstitution, in which hybrid identities are constantly created and recreated, both

consciously and unconsciously.

8.3.2 Power and agency

Foucault (1980) theorised power/knowledge as operating like a net that connects individuals

within a discourse or social context (see Chapter 2). Power flows around the net and through

each person, offering opportunities for agency and the productive use of power to enhance

one’s own situation. Prior to the CoP, the dominant discourses exerted significant power over

all the teacher participants. The participants were subject to the disciplinary effects of

experience, NNESTs, Confucian, constructivist, and institutional discourses and this had

important implications for the identities that they constructed. The identities made available

within the discourses were either taken up or resisted by the participants. These acts of agency

demonstrate the flows of power as they made sense of themselves within the discourses. For

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example, within the experience discourse, Nga took up the identity of young and inexperienced

teacher implied by this discourse. Within the NESTs/NNESTs discourse, while Nga accepted

that she was inferior to NESTs due to her young age, lack of knowledge, experience, skills, and

language proficiency, most of the participants refused to take on this image because of their

teaching methodology as well as their understandings of student needs and the cultural context.

Nga also took up the identity of a constructivist teacher and rejected the identity of a Confucian

teacher while Khanh, Hong, Thu, and Thi - the more experienced teachers - challenged this

identity by describing themselves as a combination of both Confucian and constructivist

teachers. The novice teachers were more likely to take up the identities offered by the

discourses. In other words, they were positioned as less powerful in relation to experienced

teachers and NESTs.

During the CoP, power played out in the ways the participants positioned themselves in

relation to each other. The novice teachers reconstructed and were viewed by the experienced

teachers as experts in the area of technology. In co-facilitation where both the novice and

experienced teachers took turns to facilitate the CoP meetings, they all had a voice, shared their

knowledge and skills with others and others listened to and valued their contributions. Power,

in this way, shifted and reconnected as the participants were both subject to and the initiators

of power relations. This is also consistent with Foucault’s (1980) perception that where there

is knowledge, there is power. It was not because they were novices and young teachers, they

had little voice over others as shown in empirical studies. For example, young teachers in Ha’s

(2013) study were reluctant to raise their voices over experienced teacher in the CoP due to the

cultural barrier.

My study challenges the taken-for-granted views about the hierarchical Vietnamese

context that the more experienced and older people were culturally perceived to be more

knowledgeable and powerful than the junior. Nguyen (2014) found that the relationship pre-

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service teachers had with their teacher trainers at university and supervisors at high schools was

characterised by the pre-service teachers being over-reliant on and fearful of their trainers and

supervisors.

Also, as discussed in Chapter 1, Vietnamese teachers have been familiar with receiving

a body of knowledge from their trainers in their teacher training courses and programmes. My

findings also suggest that the participants as learners in the CoP might have “moved away from

a transmission model of teacher education to a transformative perspective” (Kumaravadivelu,

2012, p. 50). The CoP might challenge their minds about “the need for dependence” on the

experts or trainers (Hofstede et al., 2010, p. 69) which may be regarded as a common learning

habit of the learners in a hierarchical setting like Vietnam. A reason for the difference might

relate to the CoP structure (ground rules, co-facilitation, perceived status, shared enterprise,

shared practice and so on) which have been discussed in section 8.2.

There is a shift in power and agency. The experienced teachers felt like novices and

vice versa at a different time. Two experienced teachers, Hong and Thu, tried to resist the use

of technology that could make their teaching more effective. In the end, they admitted that they

needed to use technology otherwise they would lag behind. The fluidity of power helps us to

understand how at one point the participants act in powerful ways but less powerful at another

(Foucault, 1980). In other words, in the CoP, all the participants experienced moments of power

as they positioned themselves in relation to others and were positioned relative to others. This

is largely due to the CoP structure.

The CoP structure was a non-hierarchical structure without the presence of any leaders.

The implementation of their activities did not require formal leadership by leaders or EFL

consultants/advisors as shown in the PLCs (Q. N. Phan, 2017) or other CoPs (Ha, 2013). In

other words, the power or authority of leaders was not present in the way the CoP operated nor

in the relationships among those who participated in the CoP activities. The power relationships

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in the CoP were not multi-layered (teachers and PD leaders, teachers and PD facilitators or

content experts, teachers and teachers). The power relation existed only among the participants

themselves. The participants, prior to the CoP, might have had different social statuses due to

their age, their experience, or their position in the faculty. However, thanks to the establishment

of communications, ground rules, shared practice, and stability, they gathered and together set

up and develop the CoP for themselves and by themselves. The social roles they brought into

interactions with each other in the CoP were as learners who wanted to learn how to teach more

effectively and how to become better EFL teachers. The novices might perceive themselves as

inferior or inexperienced compared to other experienced teachers before their CoP

participation, but this faded when they took their turns to co-facilitate the CoP meetings.

Many Vietnamese researchers on PD (e.g., Ha, 2013; Ngo, 2021; Q. N. Phan, 2017; H.

Tran, 2016) recommended an effective PD model in Vietnam should be a combination of a

bottom-up and top-down approach in the context. For example, Ha (2013), who examined a

model of PD for EFL teachers at a teachers’ college in north-eastern Vietnam, pointed out that

while top-down impositions are “intrinsically defective” (p.15), such an approach (combined)

has the potential for succeeding in collectivist, power-oriented cultures like Vietnam. In

contrast, my study suggests that a solely bottom-up structure has positive effects on teacher

participants’ power and agency. My study supports Dau (2020) who found that top-down

impositions have oppressive effects that limit lecturers’ power to decide and to act on their own

behalf and significantly reduce operational efficiency. Put differently, his study supports a

bottom-up PD approach. Busher (2006) put it this way: “If teachers do not own innovations but

are simply required to implement externally imposed changes, they are likely to do so without

enthusiasm, leading to possible failure” (p.46). My study thus suggests that the CoP structure

allows co-facilitation – a way of collaboration should be taken into account to increase power

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and agency for teachers in PD. My model of CoP supports teacher agency and equitable power

relations.

The findings of this study also indicate that the teachers were active and dynamic

subjects of their PD activity. This is consistent with the findings by Dau (2020), Ngo (2021),

Phan (2017) regarding the activeness of teachers in PD. Nguyen and Bui (2016), in their study

of teachers’ agency and enactment of educational reform in Vietnam, also concluded that

“teachers are highly capable of exercising their agency as comprehensive policy implementers”

(p. 88). Hamid and Nguyen (2016), who examined language policy and planning of several

Asian countries, also noticed that English language teachers “exercise their agency to meet

changing demands of English proficiency” (p.26). Dau (2020) in his study on PD among EFL

teachers raised the question “as to whether teachers were genuine subjects of the PD activity as

the findings revealed a series of issues concerning teachers’ powerlessness to act at national,

institutional, and individual levels” (p.188). At the macro-level of national policies, PD

programmes rarely considered teachers’ prior knowledge, needs, and current teaching

practices; thus, contents were imposed top-down. At the institutional level, teachers were solely

dependent on their superiors’ plans; they were sent to courses that were appropriate for their

needs and practices. Regarding teacher agency, his study did not record any data about teachers’

refusals to attend PD because Vietnamese workplace culture is characterised by obedience of

the subordinate to the superior. I agree with Dau’s (2020) conclusion that “the manner of

organising and managing lecturer PD at national and institutional levels in Vietnam,

irrespective of lecturer agency and autonomy, seriously violates the criteria of professionalism

for effective practice” (p. 192).

8.4 The impact of the CoP on EFL teachers’ professional practices

The literature review showed that professional identity (PI) and professional practice (PP) relate

to professional development (PD) (see Chapter 2). Effective PD leads to changes in teacher PI

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and PP in positive ways. However, most PD programmes only target one or the other (e.g., Ha,

2013; Q. N. Phan, 2017). This study addressed both seeking the answer to the research

questions about how the CoP influenced EFL teachers’ professional identity and their

professional practice. Social constructionism asserts that identity and action mirror each other

and the findings of this study indicate that the CoP as a PD model allowed both PI and PP to

work within it. The changes in PI when the teachers participated in the CoP has been discussed

in the previous section. The hybrid identities developed through the CoP and the teachers’ sense

of power and agency towards their own teaching – two key aspects that the CoP provided –

significantly impacted classroom practices. This section discusses the impact of the CoP on the

teachers’ practice.

The data from the pre-interviews and artefacts of the setting-up meetings showed that

prior to the CoP, the teachers had conflicts in PI and problems with their teaching practices,

and they raised issues related to both in the CoP meetings. Issues with their professional

identities related to their image as EFL teachers were discussed in the previous section (8.2)

through discourse, conflicts, and hybridity. Issues with their teaching practices were revealed

through the topics that participants selected for the eight CoP meetings and the contents they

discussed in each meeting. The two topics - How to deal with students with disruptive

behaviours and The art of giving feedback to students - were set prior to the official CoP

meetings while the rest related to separate English skills, namely teaching and using activities

to engage students in writing, reading, listening and speaking skills, emerged during the CoP

process from the teachers’ accounts of their needs and preferences. From these topics, it is

apparent that the teachers were concerned about their subject matter/expertise knowledge

(English skills), pedagogical knowledge (teaching methodologies), and student-related

knowledge.

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 It is interesting from the findings that although the teachers mentioned that they were

not confident with their English language proficiency, especially their speaking, the topics they

selected to discuss in the CoP were about other things, including students, self-image, or

practical applications for the classroom. Native-like speaking was briefly discussed as part of

the discussion on speaking skills, where the teachers agreed that speaking fluently and

appropriately was more necessary and important than trying to speak like a native speaker (see

Chapter 5). In other words, teachers expressed the belief that optimal learning can be achieved

when it is assisted or well-scaffolded through the way the teachers use language appropriately

in the classroom. It is more important that teachers adjust their language to learner variables,

specific classroom situations and specific pedagogical purposes instead of imitating native-like

accents.

The CoP’s approach and structure (flat hierarchy) empowered teachers; they were

empowered learners taking responsibility for their own PD. The topics they chose to discuss

were driven by their own needs and desires, not by outside influences. Rather than theories

about methodology, they were trying to understand students better, teacher identity, and

practicability. Before the CoP, Nga and Hai, two novice teachers, struggled with teaching

students. While both used CLT or updated teaching methods in their classrooms, they struggled

to build rapport with students and to gain respect and attention from students. the MKOs (the

more experienced teachers) taught them about students and shared valuable teaching materials

and ideas. The novices then changed how they interacted with students. Nga gained confidence

in communicating with students. She used students’ language or made jokes without fear of

judgment. She used the materials in her lessons and noticed a difference in her students. Hai

became reflective on her teaching. She observed her students’ reactions to her lessons and used

the CoP’s ideas to create exciting and engaging lessons. Thus, knowledge about students and

teaching materials provided by the CoP immediately influenced Nga and Hai’s professional

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identities and practices in a positive way. No matter what teaching methods they know, teachers

cannot effectively motivate, support, and scaffold student learning unless they have deep

understanding of students (what their students know, how they learn, their difficulties, how

they feel about learning, and how they see things). Thuy is another example for this. Initially,

Thuy appeared to be a strict teacher who frequently punished students, but she refused to be

positioned as such. Thuy began to review herself after hearing other teachers’ stories and their

feedback on her performance. However, she did not immediately change her ways with

students. It took her a long time to accept her negotiated identity or change her professional

practice. The CoP allowed Thuy to first understand herself before changing her professional

identity and practice. These above examples also explain the non-linear relationship among the

CoP, PI and PP. This suggests that the CoP may affect PI leading to changes in PP, and vice

versa. Changes in PI and PP influenced the CoP effectiveness.

Before participating in the CoP project, all the teachers had access to PD. They brought

issues that were related to ideas learned in previous PD programmes to the CoP. Nga, for

example, raised the issue of CLT, assuming it was more commonly used in speaking skills than

receptive skills like reading and listening, which she was teaching at the time of the study. As

a result, she had trouble applying CLT in class. The CoP members advised Nga to use integrated

skills. Khanh took using a laptop or projector in class for blended learning and ignored paper

handouts and sources. By observing Nga and Hai’s use of technology for interactive activities,

Khanh was able to make sense of blended learning. The CoP clearly assisted teachers in

knowledge construction and reconstruction. The CoP thus supported other teacher PD

programmes that lacked follow-up activities or were purely theoretical.

The positive changes in these teachers’ teaching practices and professional identities

after participating in the CoP might be explained with reference to T.H.T. Pham’s (2014)

argument that it is difficult for Confucian Heritage Culture (CHC) people to adopt new values.

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If CHC teachers and students are forced to accept changes that go against their values, they

may only accept superficial changes. The teachers in this study had professional identity

conflicts as well as struggles in their teaching practices. The CoP, however, allowed them to

negotiate, renegotiate, and then reconcile these conflicts in their identities (section 8.2). Their

hybrid identity is the result of their discussions and sharing with their colleagues during the

CoP meetings, and this may lead to genuine changes in their practices rather than surface

changes. A flat hierarchy where the teachers own their own PD, have power and agency to

voice their needs and problems as well as a collegiality that allowed the teachers to freely reveal

“hard-to-say” or “sensitive” things may also lead to change. The findings of this research thus

suggest that a CoP with the three features discussed in section 8.2 (connection, collaboration,

and reflection) is likely to help EFL teachers with CHC influence to grow personally and

professionally.

8.5 Summary

This chapter has discussed the main findings of the study. The CoP elements of mutual

engagement, shared repertoire, and joint enterprise were evident in this research, embedded

within three key features - Connection, Collaboration, and Reflection. These features made the

CoP model used in this study work well for Vietnamese EFL teachers. The model thus

eliminated some issues of existing PD models such as a lack of trust, a lack of voluntary

participation, and the balance between top-down and bottom-up approaches. The

transformation in EFL teachers’ professional identities and practices through discourses,

conflicts, hybridity, power, and agency are also discussed. The next chapter will point out

limitations, significant contribution, and recommendations for future research.

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 CHAPTER 9: CONCLUSION

9.1 Introduction

This chapter indicates the contributions of this study to the wider academic discourse, points

out some limitations, makes recommendations for the field of PD as well as recommendations

for further research.

9.2 Contributions of the study

This study makes a significant contribution as it responds to the calls in the international and

domestic literature for the development of effective collaborative PD models at tertiary levels

(T. Borg, 2012; Gast et al., 2017; Ha, 2013). The CoP was found to work well in the specific

context of tertiary EFL teaching when the unique features of connection, collaboration, and

reflection with the three embedded elements – mutual engagement, shared repertoire, and joint

enterprise – are established.

The PD CoP is always available for teachers to set up if they want to. The teacher

participants in this study expressed their need for PD. The CoP was developed based on their

needs, not on content prescribed by the faculty or institution leaders or MOET. Without leaders’

involvement, the teachers set time and space, ground rules to protect themselves and to build

trust and collegiality, and they interacted and collaborated with each other to foster their

learning within the CoP. Voluntary participation is a key feature of the CoP. The study also

showed that even though the teachers were busy and overloaded with their duties inside and

outside the university, attending the CoP did not generate a certificate as traditional PD

programmes did, and they might have had to sacrifice part of their income for the time spent in

the CoP, they still managed to allocate their limited time for PD by attending the CoP and

almost all fully attended. This implies that teachers will attend a PD activity if it meets their

demands and is relevant to their context. The CoP fulfilled these requirements. It is available

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and practical in the teachers’ hands. The teachers became change agents or architects of their

own PD. This is meaningful, especially in the context of Vietnam. Some researchers (e.g., Ha,

2013; Q. N. Phan, 2017) pointed out that the teacher participants in their studies, although

having a desire for their PD, only had an opportunity to attend PD programmes until the leaders

such as MOET, DOET, or faculty/college/school leaders officially organised one for them.

This study makes a contribution in terms of teacher empowerment. According to Phan

(2017), leadership or power in the PLCs she studied was exercised in a way specifically relevant

to the social, political, and cultural features of the Vietnamese context. She concluded that the

ideal of distributing leadership across all the participants in PLCs does not really fit in the

Vietnamese context, where a larger power distance and senior teachers and leaders are

culturally respected (p.223). In the same vein, Ha (2013) and C.V. Le (2018) emphasised the

important role of leaders to facilitate PD sessions. For example, the participants in Ha’s (2013)

study started to engage or speak up in the CoP meeting when a leader encouraged them to talk

openly. The findings of this study, however, indicated that power in the CoP moved around the

teachers. The teachers were active participants in their choice of whether or not they wanted to

attend the CoP, in setting ground rules, time and place, in raising and selecting the topic for

discussion, in facilitating the CoP meetings based on their areas of expertise or skills. They also

took agency in taking up or resisting the knowledge people shared with them. This challenges

the tendency evident in many studies (e.g., Ha, 2013; V. C. Le, 2018; Q. N. Phan, 2017)

regarding “the need for dependence” on more capable people or the experts (Hofstede et al.,

2010, p. 69). This might be established in Vietnamese teachers’ minds, something both teachers

and PD providers take for granted. All of these might be because the teachers in the CoP

experienced a bottom-up and collaborative approach which is completely different from the

transmission and theory-oriented approach that Vietnamese teachers have had in conventional

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formal PD programmes such as seminars, workshops, training courses (Hamano, 2008; V. C.

Le, 2002; V. C. Le & Nguyen, 2012).

This study has made an important contribution to the evidence base regarding the

implications of implementing the national language reform in Vietnam. It seems that the root

of the problem that new ideas are only adopted on the surface by Confucian teachers lies in its

conflicts with the Confucian values in teachers’ heads (T. H. T. Pham, 2014). Only when such

conflicts are resolved, genuine changes for teachers may occur. Similarly, Dau (2020) stated

that teachers attended PD programmes with a lot of contradictions. The teacher participants in

this study were those who spent their whole life working and living in Vietnam with few

opportunities to encounter a new culture and meet people of that culture to help them

understand the constructivist teaching principles and negotiate or construct their hybrid

identity. In other words, the Confucian values seem dominant in their heads. The findings of

this study indicated that participation in the CoP led to changes in the teachers’ views about

themselves, challenged their misassumption and misinterpretation, and opened up another

discourse that allowed them to negotiate their professional identity. From that, they knew how

to reconcile the conflicts among discourses available to them.

9.3 Limitations of the study

There are some limitations in this research and further questions that arise as a result. The first

limitation is the lack of evidence from students to ensure that what the teachers say about the

changes in their professional identities and practices matches what students experience in the

classrooms. However, the student experience was not a central part of the thesis, which focused

only on teachers and their perspectives. This would be a good focus for future research about

the impact of CoP professional development for EFL teachers on outcomes for students.

The second possible limitation relates to the duration of the study. It is suggested that

teacher learning is a process and PI is ongoing and changing over time; it takes time for changes

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to PI to take effect in the teaching practice and thus to become noticeable. This study was

conducted within 6 months, but the results may be different if the CoP ran for longer.

Third, while my connection with the research setting and EFL teachers created

favourable conditions for recruiting participants and encouraging the connections and

collaboration that contributed to the CoP’s success and the data validity, my role as a participant

and insider researcher may have affected the process of data collection and analysis. When the

teachers signed up, it might be because they respected me as I am their friend and colleague,

they wanted to help me with my PhD project. However, as the CoP went on within the 6-month

duration, the teacher participants maintained their motivation not because they wanted to help

me, but because they actually gained something else from the CoP. The data indicated that they

looked forward to the meetings and they found the CoP helpful for their professional

development. Moreover, the risk of being a participant and insider researcher is mitigated by

my self-reflection and through professional conversations with my supervisors as discussed in

sections 3.11, 3.12, and 3.13.

The small number of the teacher participants may be the fourth limitation. There are

only eight participants, including me. While this provided depth of understanding in this

context, the findings cannot be generalised to other populations. A larger sample size might

provide a more detailed picture of teacher learning in the CoP. However, the CoP was set up

based on the teachers’ voluntary participation, motivation, and commitment, and it should be a

safe place for teachers who can work comfortably with each other and share meaningful and

honest things without being afraid of being judged. The findings of this study indicate that the

teachers regarded the CoP as a family where they could comfortably share opinions, even

“sensitive” things and they looked forward to the CoP meetings. All these things would be more

important than the number of participants

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 Last but not least, the sustainability of the CoP might be a limitation. The CoP does

need someone who is interested in and wants to establish it with teachers and for teachers. The

CoP would end when teachers have no interest, problems, or concerns to discuss or share.

Further suggestions for sustaining CoPs are made in the following section.

The limitations listed above may be seen as weaknesses and there is certainly more

work to be done regarding these issues. However, these are not the work of this thesis, and so

it remains for other researchers to take these up.

9.4 Recommendations for professional development

As Varghese et al. (2005) stated “in order to understand language teaching and learning we

need to understand teachers, and in order to understand teachers, we need a clear sense of the

professional, cultural, political, and individual identities which teachers claim or which are

assigned to them” (p.22). The purpose of PD programmes is to assist teachers to improve their

teaching and accordingly have positive impacts on students’ learning. It is obvious that there is

a close link between PI and PD.

What I have come to see most clearly from the data are the multiple and conflicting

identities that operate in each of the discourses available for the EFL teachers. The CoP

provided a space or spaces for agency and movement. The contestation over identities, as

subject positions are proposed and either taken up or resisted, has the potential to open up new

spaces for hybrid identities. Hybridity in transnational contexts is a common notion for EFL

teachers who have a chance to navigate and negotiate two cultures and languages. However,

with EFL teachers who spend their whole life living and working in their home country like

Vietnam, PD programmes like the CoP also offer a place for them to express their problems,

challenge their assumptions, challenge the dominant discourses, and negotiate their multiple

and conflicted identities. In other words, teachers need a safe and secure place to solve

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contradictions in their heads, for example between the Confucian teaching and constructivist

teaching approaches.

Moreover, there is always a danger of essentialising whether it comes from reading

materials that describe the typical features or characteristics of a particular group of teachers or

from the experience of interacting with a member of a teacher group. Therefore, I suggest that

it is important for PD providers to be well informed about the cultural issues and tensions that

teachers may encounter. It is also important to see and know teachers as individuals because

teachers have different ZPD, experiences, needs, demands, and tensions. If possible, PD

providers and teachers themselves must take time to find out about the background of teachers

and avoid essentialist identities. Even more importantly, PD providers and teachers must

understand the contradictory, dynamic, and ongoing aspects of professional identities in order

to be able to provide opportunities for teachers to share how they experience their multiple

identities in multiple ways.

The critical next step for PD providers and teachers is to consider PD programmes,

models, and approaches like the CoP that allow EFL teachers to explore hybrid and

multiple/plural identities. These spaces would offer an opportunity for teachers to move beyond

the “surface” only adoption of new state-mandated teaching approaches that go against the

Confucian values to fully transform teachers’ thinking. Such profound changes in the way

teachers see themselves and engage with the class offer may be the key for the nation’s

educational reforms to be successfully implemented and enacted.

In terms of PD, I suggest that PD models or programmes need to be expanded beyond

traditional PD programmes, such as workshops or training courses, to include self-directed and

inquiry-based learning. The findings of this study strongly supported that the Vietnamese EFL

teachers as the practitioners of their learning process benefitted from the CoP’s activities, which

were scheduled by the teachers themselves and directly related to their teaching issues. The

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teachers were empowered to construct their knowledge for and of practice of teaching English

to the university students and develop a hybrid PI that allows to construct themselves as a good

teacher. I, therefore, suggest that PD models like the CoP described in this study with a bottom-

up approach be conducted in other similar contexts. To make this happen, when I return to

Vietnam, I will organise some seminars and workshops to introduce the concept and model of

the CoP to colleagues at my university. I will tell them about the CoP characteristics such as

teacher-based structure, shared interests, voluntary participation, and co-facilitation. This is a

way I can address the issue of the sustainability of the CoP mentioned above in section 9.3 –

Limitations.

Without the presence of leaders, the study showed that power moved around among

teachers, which gave them the agency to take up or resist various aspects of the teachers’ PI for

their own purposes. They comfortably, willingly, and honestly shared their problems, issues,

misassumptions, and misinterpretations which they probably found hard to share in other PD

programmes. This helped them to open up another space for their hybrid identities. However,

the data also recorded that the teachers were busy with teaching loads, pressured by income

issues, and had to sacrifice teaching to attend PD and make up for their class absence later. I

suggest that PD providers or university or MOET need to consider to financially support

teachers if they wanted to set up their own PD models like the CoP. In my case, at the top level,

I will speak with senior management people of my faculty and university, and work to convince

them that the CoP is a useful way to invest PD money and time. This will greatly assist teachers

regarding the issues of teaching loads and incomes that I have mentioned above.

The development of connections fosters collaboration in PD programmes for

Vietnamese teachers. While collaboration is a key feature of an effective PD for teachers, a

small number of previous studies report a lack of collaboration among Vietnamese teachers (V.

C. Le & Nguyen, 2012; H. H. Pham, 2001; Saito & Tsukui, 2008; Vo & Nguyen, 2010), recent

258
studies (e.g., Q. N. Phan, 2017) reported collaboration did happen and played an important part

in constructing teachers’ knowledge and PI when it was facilitated. However, Phan (2017) also

stated that trust and collegiality among the teacher participants in her study “had not been

sufficiently developed so that their sharing was not always open and frank” (p.229). The

teachers’ learning process happens through social interactions that they had with their

colleagues and other relevant people. Some issues such as face saving, sharing habits, and age

may limit their collaboration. Therefore, I strongly recommend that Vietnamese teacher be

provided with more opportunities to connect before sharing and interacting professionally.

Some activities such as ground rules, lunchtime, setting-up meetings, effective communication,

and the size of the group may help boost connection. This way in turn helps build trust and

collegiality among the participants, develop a shared repertoire, and reach a joint enterprise

together. Under the right circumstances, teachers can feel secure and safe to share and deal with

assumptions, challenge the taken-for-granted knowledge, and be open to learn to change their

professional identity and practice.

PD programmes for Vietnamese teachers need follow-up activities. From social

constructionism and social constructivism, teacher knowledge (including knowledge about

themselves) is unfixed and developed over time and teacher learning is an on-going process

that is socially and culturally constructed. Eight official CoP meetings were organised on a

regular and continuous basis (mostly two hours every week). The teachers had sufficient time

to discuss the issue, to apply a bit of what they learned from the CoP in their classroom, bring

their experiences back to the CoP and received feedback from the CoP members. The action

research process helped them do this productively. However, as the teachers had different

experiences, backgrounds, needs, and ZPDs, they needed different scaffolding from MKOs.

Some teachers who tended to resist change took longer and needed more scaffolding. Some

teachers needed more time to try out new ideas in their practice. Hence, I strongly suggest

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having follow-up activities for Vietnamese teachers to cater for their learning and

developmental differences. The follow-up activities may be simple, like follow-up questions

where they can continuously reflect on their teaching practice or voice their issues. Such

activities appear to have low recurrent costs but bring benefits to teachers. Last but not least, in

terms of developing the CoP in similar contexts in Vietnam, I suggest following the CoP model

as discussed early in this chapter.

9.5 Recommendations for further research and conclusion

This study provides a strong foundation for any further research in this field. It sets out to

investigate the process of the CoP as a PD model for EFL teachers at a university and its

influences on teacher professional identities and practices. Most obviously and importantly

from my perspective, this study might not have covered all aspects relating to the

interrelationships between teachers’ teaching in classrooms and students’ learning outcomes.

A longitudinal study of this kind could make an evidence-based contribution to shed light on

the link between teachers’ participation in the CoP and students’ improvements. The study

could be conducted either with a newly developed CoP and teachers having their first

experience in the CoP, or with an established CoP such as the one in this study to see how the

teachers apply what they learn in their teaching practice and how this influences their students’

learning. In addition, a multiple case study could be conducted to compare and contrast the

aspects of implementation of the CoP and its influences on teachers’ PI and PP in different

settings. The CoP at the university or at different universities in different parts of Vietnam could

be single cases. Based on the analysis of the data on the CoP that showed shifts in teacher

professional identity for each of the single cases, a multiple case study could uncover the impact

of sociocultural features of a distinctive context on the implementation of the CoP and its

influences on teacher PI and PP. In this thesis, there has been a lot of talk about hybridity and

the need for power and agency to challenge the taken-for-granted knowledge to create hybridity

260
and multiple identities. It seems to me that culturally responsive PD offers a means of creating

a learning and social environment where teachers can position themselves and each other as

mutually powerful without being constrained by the hierarchy or worries about being judged.

Further research investigating the effectiveness of culturally responsive PD would therefore

seem worthwhile. These are all potential areas for further investigation.

9.6 Summary

This thesis examined the community of practice (CoP) as a model for professional development

for EFL teachers in Vietnam. Social constructionism and social constructivism are used in this

thesis to understand teacher professional identity and the professional learning process within

the CoP. A qualitative case study as the research method and action research as the research

process were adopted to investigate the complex situations and meanings of the CoP process

and teacher professional identity construction. Eight EFL teachers (including me as the

participant) were recruited to participate in a six - months long CoP. Data consisted of pre- and

post-interviews, CoP recordings, reflective writing journals, and artefacts, which were then

analysed using discourse and thematic analysis.

Based on the data, multiple discourses were found to influence Vietnamese EFL

teachers' professional identities and practices. Conflicting discourses seemed to have led to

tensions in the teachers’ professional identities and negatively influenced their teaching

practices. The analysis suggested that the CoP structure, which included voluntary

participation, clear ground rules, a shared repertoire, and no involvement of the university

administration, allowed teachers to collaborate and engage in a variety of activities. The thesis

showed that teachers can share their teaching problems honestly when they feel safe and have

agency in and control over their own professional development. They can positively transform

their professional identities and practices by challenging prevailing knowledge and reconcile

conflicts in discourses with the help of the MKOs. The CoP elements of mutual engagement,

261
shared repertoire, and joint enterprise were evident in this research, embedded within three key

features – connection, collaboration, and reflection. As a result, the CoP model looks different

from other collaborative models in Vietnam and eliminated some issues of such models, such

as a lack of trust, a lack of voluntary participation, and the balance between top-down and

bottom-up approaches. The thesis thus makes significant contributions to knowledge about

collaborative PD models for EFL teachers and teacher professional identities in Vietnam. Some

recommendations are made aiming to strengthen the basis for collaborative PD amongst

Vietnamese teachers and suggest a CoP model appropriate to the Vietnamese context and other

similar contexts.

262
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 APPENDICES

Appendix A. Information letter to the Principal

Dear ___________________,

Project title:

A community of practice and its influence on Vietnamese EFL teachers’ professional

identity

Thank you for your interest in this project. Please read this information before deciding

whether or not to take part. If you decide to participate, thank you. If you decide not to take

part, thank you for considering my request.

Who am I?

My name is Tran Thi Dan Huyen and I am a lecturer at the Faculty of Foreign Languages for

Economics, National Economics University. I am currently a Doctoral student in Education at

Victoria University of Wellington. This research project is work towards my thesis.

What is the aim of the project?

This study aims to examine the process of implementing a CoP as a model of professional

development and investigating its impact on professional identity of a group of Vietnamese

EFL teachers, as well as their teaching practice at tertiary level in a Vietnamese university.

This research has been approved by the Victoria University of Wellington Human Ethics

Committee [provide approval number].

How can you help?

295
I am seeking your permission to conduct research within National Economics University. If

you give consent for this research to be undertaken, I will seek consent from the Dean of Faculty

then. After that, I will contact and share the ideas of a community of practice and action research

for EFL teachers’ professional development with my colleagues in my Faculty. Six EFL

teachers will be selected to involve in my research. Firstly, we will reflect on our professional

practice, raise some issues that we are faced with, and plan ways we need to change the

situations. We then will arrange CoP meetings by ourselves such as timing, topic selecting,

presenting, and reflecting and so on. We will use the skills and knowledge accumulated from

the CoP in our teaching practice. Later on we will reflect on the CoP and any progress or

transformation we make during and after CoP activities regarding professional identities and

practices through interviews, reflective writing journals and artefacts. There are 10 CoP

meetings which last 2 or 3 hours each in 10 weeks. At the end of each CoP meeting, the

participants will write a reflective writing journal. For interviews, the participants will take part

in pre- and post- interviews which last 45 minutes each person. All interviews will be audio-

recorded. You can withdraw consent to participate from the study by contacting me at any point

before 28th February 2019.

What will happen to the information you give?

Throughout the project all attempts will be made to minimise the disruptive impact on teaching

and learning activities of your teachers and students. This research is confidential. This means

that my supervisors and I will be aware of your university identity but the research data will be

aggregated and your university identity will not be disclosed in any reports, presentations, or

public documentation. Your university will not be identified in any work generated from this

study. Only my supervisors and I will read the notes or transcript of the interview. The interview

transcripts, summaries and any recordings will be kept securely and destroyed five years after

the research ends.

296
What will the project produce?

The information from my research will be used in my PhD dissertation, articles and conference

presentations.

If you accept this invitation, what are your rights as a research participant?

You do not have to accept this invitation if you don’t want to. If you do decide to permit me to

conduct this study at your university, you have the right to withdraw the consent from the study

before 28th February 2019 and ask any questions about the study at any time.

If you have any questions, either now or in the future, please feel free to contact either:

PhD student: Supervisor:

Name: Tran Thi Dan Huyen Name: Dr. Jae Major - Dr. Bernadette Knewstubb

University email address: Role: Lecturers

Huyen.tran@vuw.ac.nz School: Education

Phone:

jae.major@vuw.ac.nz

bernadette.knewstubb@vuw.ac.nz

Human Ethics Committee information

If you have any concerns about the ethical conduct of the research, you may contact the Victoria

University HEC Convener: Associate Professor Susan Corbett. Email

susan.corbett@vuw.ac.nz or telephone +64-4-463 5480.

297
Appendix B. Information letter to the Dean

Dear ___________________,

Project title:

A community of practice and its influence on Vietnamese EFL teachers’ professional

identity

Thank you for your interest in this project. Please read this information before deciding

whether or not to take part. If you decide to participate, thank you. If you decide not to take

part, thank you for considering my request.

Who am I?

My name is Tran Thi Dan Huyen and I am a lecturer at the Faculty of Foreign Languages for

Economics, National Economics University. I am currently a Doctoral student in Education at

Victoria University of Wellington. This research project is work towards my thesis.

What is the aim of the project?

This study aims to examine the process of implementing a CoP as a model of professional

development and investigating its impact on professional identity of a group of Vietnamese

EFL teachers, as well as their teaching practice at tertiary level in a Vietnamese university.

This research has been approved by the Victoria University of Wellington Human Ethics

Committee [provide approval number].

How can you help?

298
I am seeking your permission to conduct research within National Economics University. If

you give consent for this research to be undertaken, I will seek consent from the Dean of Faculty

then. After that, I will contact and share the ideas of a community of practice and action research

for EFL teachers’ professional development with my colleagues in my Faculty. Six EFL

teachers will be selected to involve in my research. Firstly, we will reflect on our professional

practice, raise some issues that we are faced with, and plan ways we need to change the

situations. We then will arrange CoP meetings by ourselves such as timing, topic selecting,

presenting, and reflecting and so on. We will use the skills and knowledge accumulated from

the CoP in our teaching practice. Later on we will reflect on the CoP and any progress or

transformation we make during and after CoP activities regarding professional identities and

practices through interviews, reflective writing journals and artefacts. There are 10 CoP

meetings which last 2 or 3 hours each in 10 weeks. At the end of each CoP meeting, the

participants will write a reflective writing journal. For interviews, the participants will take part

in pre- and post- interviews which last 45 minutes each person. All interviews will be audio-

recorded. You can withdraw consent to participate from the study by contacting me at any point

before 28th February 2019.

What will happen to the information you give?

Throughout the project all attempts will be made to minimise the disruptive impact on teaching

and learning activities of your teachers and students. This research is confidential. This means

that my supervisors and I will be aware of your university identity but the research data will be

aggregated and your university identity will not be disclosed in any reports, presentations, or

public documentation. Your university will not be identified in any work generated from this

study. Only my supervisors and I will read the notes or transcript of the interview. The interview

transcripts, summaries and any recordings will be kept securely and destroyed five years after

the research ends.

299
What will the project produce?

The information from my research will be used in my PhD dissertation, articles and conference

presentations.

If you accept this invitation, what are your rights as a research participant?

You do not have to accept this invitation if you don’t want to. If you do decide to permit me to

conduct this study at your university, you have the right to withdraw the consent from the study

before 28th February 2019 and ask any questions about the study at any time.

If you have any questions, either now or in the future, please feel free to contact either:

Student: Supervisor:

Name: Tran Thi Dan Huyen Name: Dr. Jae Major - Dr. Bernadette Knewstubb

University email address: Role: Lecturers

Huyen.tran@vuw.ac.nz School: Education

Phone:

jae.major@vuw.ac.nz

bernadette.knewstubb@vuw.ac.nz

Human Ethics Committee information

If you have any concerns about the ethical conduct of the research, you may contact the Victoria

University HEC Convener: Associate Professor Susan Corbett. Email

susan.corbett@vuw.ac.nz or telephone +64-4-463 5480.

300
Appendix C. Information letter to the participants

Dear ___________________,

Project title:

A community of practice and its influence on Vietnamese EFL teachers’ professional

identity

Thank you for your interest in this project. Please read this information before deciding

whether or not to take part. If you decide to participate, thank you. If you decide not to take

part, thank you for considering my request.

Who am I?

My name is Tran Thi Dan Huyen and I am a lecturer at the Faculty of Foreign Languages for

Economics, National Economics University. I am currently a Doctoral student in Education at

Victoria University of Wellington. This research project is work towards my thesis.

What is the aim of the project?

This study aims to examine the process of implementing a CoP as a model of professional

development and investigating its impact on professional identity of a group of Vietnamese

EFL teachers, as well as their teaching practice at tertiary level in a Vietnamese university.

This research has been approved by the Victoria University of Wellington Human Ethics

Committee [provide approval number].

How can you help?

301
I am seeking your permission to conduct research within National Economics University. If

you give consent for this research to be undertaken, I will seek consent from the Dean of Faculty

then. After that, I will contact and share the ideas of a community of practice and action research

for EFL teachers’ professional development with my colleagues in my Faculty. Six EFL

teachers will be selected to involve in my research. Firstly, we will reflect on our professional

practice, raise some issues that we are faced with, and plan ways we need to change the

situations. We then will arrange CoP meetings by ourselves such as timing, topic selecting,

presenting, and reflecting and so on. We will use the skills and knowledge accumulated from

the CoP in our teaching practice. Later on we will reflect on the CoP and any progress or

transformation we make during and after CoP activities regarding professional identities and

practices through interviews, reflective writing journals and artefacts. There are 10 CoP

meetings which last 2 or 3 hours each in 10 weeks. At the end of each CoP meeting, the

participants will write a reflective writing journal. For interviews, the participants will take part

in pre- and post- interviews which last 45 minutes each person. All interviews will be audio-

recorded. You can withdraw consent to participate from the study by contacting me at any point

before 28th February 2019.

What will happen to the information you give?

Throughout the project all attempts will be made to minimise the disruptive impact on teaching

and learning activities of your teachers and students. This research is confidential. This means

that my supervisors and I will be aware of your university identity, but the research data will

be aggregated, and your university identity will not be disclosed in any reports, presentations,

or public documentation. Your university will not be identified in any work generated from this

study. Only my supervisors and I will read the notes or transcript of the interview. The interview

transcripts, summaries and any recordings will be kept securely and destroyed five years after

the research ends.

302
What will the project produce?

The information from my research will be used in my PhD dissertation, articles and conference

presentations.

If you accept this invitation, what are your rights as a research participant?

You do not have to accept this invitation if you don’t want to. If you do decide to participate,

you have the right to:

• participate in all CoP meetings for teachers’ professional development

• ask for the audio recorder to be turned off at any time during the interview;

• withdraw from the study before 28th February 2019;

• ask any questions about the study at any time;

• receive a copy of your interview recording (if it is recorded);

• read over and comment on a written transcript of your interview;

• be able to read any reports of this research by emailing the researcher to request a copy.

If you have any questions, either now or in the future, please feel free to contact either:

Student: Supervisor:

Name: Tran Thi Dan Huyen Name: Dr. Jae Major - Dr. Bernadette Knewstubb

University email address: Role: Lecturers

Huyen.tran@vuw.ac.nz School: Education

Phone:

jae.major@vuw.ac.nz

303
 bernadette.knewstubb@vuw.ac.nz

Human Ethics Committee information

If you have any concerns about the ethical conduct of the research, you may contact the Victoria

University HEC Convener: Associate Professor Susan Corbett. Email

susan.corbett@vuw.ac.nz or telephone +64-4-463 5480.

304
Appendix D. Participants’ consent form

A community of practice and its influence on Vietnamese EFL teachers’ professional

identity

CONSENT TO MEETINGS, INTERVIEWS AND

REFLECTIVE WRITING JOURNALS

This consent form will be held for 4 years.

Researcher: Tran Thi Dan Huyen, School of Education, Victoria University of Wellington.

❖ I have read the Information Sheet and the project has been explained to me. My questions

have been answered to my satisfaction. I understand that I can ask further questions at

any time.

❖ I agree to take part in CoP meetings

❖ I agree to take part in an audio-recorded interview.

❖ I agree to write a reflective writing journal

I understand that:

❖ I may withdraw from this study at any point before 28th February 2019, without giving

any reason, and any information that I have provided will be returned to me or destroyed.

❖ The information I have provided will be destroyed five years after the research is finished.

305
 ❖ Any information I provide will be kept confidential to the researcher and his supervisor.

I understand that the results will be used for a PhD report and a summary of the results

may be used in academic reports and/or presented at conferences.

❖ My name will not be used in reports, nor will any information that would identify me.

❖ I would like a copy of the transcript of my interview: ❖ Yes No

❖ I would like to receive a full copy of the thesis and have ❖ Yes No

added my email address below.

Signature of participant: ________________________________

Name of participant: ________________________________

Date: ________________________________

Contact details: ________________________________

306
Appendix E. Interview questions for EFL teachers

QUESTIONS FOR PRE-INTERVIEWS

Professional identity

1. Tell me about your journey to become an EFL teacher - When? Why? How?

2. What do you like best about being an EFL teacher? What do you like least? What motivates

you to teach?

3. How do you think others (such as students, colleagues of other subjects) in the university see

EFL teachers?

4. What are the characteristics of a good EFL teacher?

Teaching practice

5. How would you describe your approach to teaching EFL?

6. Tell me about a typical EFL lesson. Tell me about a time when you were really happy with

your teaching.

7. Can you tell me about some challenges you face when teaching?

8. What kinds of things are most effective for teaching EFL? Where do you get your ideas for

your lessons?

9. If you were giving advice to a colleague about how to be successful as an EFL teacher,

what would you tell them?

307
Professional development

10. Tell me about any recent professional development you have completed. Did you enjoy it?

Why/why not? Was it helpful to you? Have you changed anything in your teaching as a

result? Why? Why not?

11. What kind of professional development do you find is most helpful?

12. Do you spend much time discussing your teaching with your colleagues? What kinds of

things do you talk about? Is this helpful to you? Why/why not?

QUESTIONS FOR POST-INTERVIEWS

PART 1

Professional identity and Teaching practice

1. Do you think that the way you see you as a teacher has changed during your

participation in CoP meetings? If so, how has it changed? What examples can you

provide to show this change?

2. Tell me how you would describe yourself as a teacher now. Do you consider yourself

to be a good teacher and/or a good EFL teacher?

3. How do you think others in the university see you as an EFL teacher now?

4. How would you describe your approach to teaching EFL now? Is there any change

during your participation in CoP meetings? Can you tell me an example to show this

change?

5. If you were giving advice to a colleague about how to be successful as an EFL teacher,

what would you tell them now?

6. Can you tell me about one of your EFL lessons that you found it successful during your

participation in CoP meetings? Why? How?

308
PART 2

7. Did you enjoy the CoP meetings? Why or why not? What factors made you enjoy most?

8. How do you involve in CoP meetings?

9. What do you think about the CoP meetings?

- Is the content relevant to you?

- Do the meetings help you reflect on issues related to your teaching? How?

- Do you learn anything useful for your teaching from CoP meetings? How?

- Do you apply any strategies you learn in CoPs?

- Do you think CoP meetings help improve your teaching practice? How?

- Do you think CoP meetings change the way you see you as a teacher or the way others see

you as a teacher? How?

- Do you think a CoP is an effective model for professional development for teachers? Why?

10. What suggestions would you like to make for CoPs to be more successful?

Translated Interviews

CÂU HỎI PHỎNG VẤN TRƯỚC

Đặc điểm cá nhân trong công việc

1. Bạn có thể nói cho tôi biết hành trình trở thành giáo viên tiếng Anh của bạn được không –

Khi nào? Tại sao và Như thế nào?

2. Bạn thích nhất điều gì khi là giáo viên tiếng Anh? Điều bạn ít thích nhất là gì? Điều tạo đựng

lực cho bạn trong giảng dạy là gì?

3. Bạn nghĩ những người khác chẳng hạn như sinh viên, đồng nghiệp dạy môn khác trong

trường bạn nhận xét như thế nào về giáo viên tiếng Anh?

4. Theo bạn, những đặc điểm của một giáo viên tiếng Anh tốt là gì?

309
Công việc giảng dạy

5. Bạn sẽ miêu tả phương pháp giảng dạy tiếng Anh của bạn như thế nào?

6. Hãy nói cho tôi biết về một tiết học tiếng Anh điển hình của bạn. Hãy kể cho tôi về thời

gian mà bạn thực sự hài lòng với việc giảng dạy của mình.

7. Bạn có thể kể một số thách thức mà bạn gặp phải trong giảng dạy không?

8. Theo bạn, điều gì là hiệu quả nhất đối với việc giảng dạy tiếng Anh? Bạn lấy ý tưởng cho

các bài giảng ở đâu?

9. Nếu bạn đưa ra lời khuyên cho một đồng nghiệp về cách trở thành một giáo viên tiếng Anh

thành công, bạn sẽ nói gì với người đó?

Phát triển chuyên môn

10. Hãy cho tôi biết những chương trình/hoạt động phát triển chuyên môn gần đây bạn đã hoàn

thành. Bạn có thích chúng không? Tại sao thích/ tại sao không thích? Nó hữu ích với bạn

không? Bạn có thay đổi điều gì trong việc giảng dạy của bạn hay không? Tại sao?

11. Kiểu hoạt động phát triển chuyên môn nào bạn thấy hữu ích nhất?

12. Bạn có dành thời gian thảo luận việc giảng dạy của bạn với các đồng nghiệp không? Bạn

thảo luận/ nói về điều gì? Nó có giúp ích cho bạn không? Tại sao?

CÂU HỎI PHỎNG VẤN SAU

PHẦN 1

Đặc điểm cá nhân trong công việc và công việc giảng dạy

1. Bạn có nghĩ rằng cách bạn nhìn nhận bạn là một giáo viên đã thay đổi sau khi tham gia các

buổi họp? Nếu có, điều đó thay đổi như thế nào? Bạn có thể cung cấp một vài ví dụ thể hiện

sự thay đổi này không?

2. Bây giờ, bạn miêu tả về bạn trong vai trò là giáo viên như thế nào? Bạn có coi mình là một

giáo viên tốt hay không?

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3. Bạn nghĩ người khác trong trường bạn nhìn nhận về bạn trong vai trò là giáo viên tiếng Anh

như thế nào bây giờ?

4. Bạn miêu tả phương pháp giảng dạy của bạn như thế nào bây giờ? Có điều gì thay đổi trong

quá trình bạn tham gia vào các buổi họp hay không? Hãy cho tôi một ví dụ minh họa cho

sự thay đổi đó.

5. Nếu bạn đưa ra lời khuyên cho một đồng nghiệp của bạn về cách trở thành một giáo viên

tiếng Anh thành công, bạn sẽ nói gì với họ bây giờ?

6. Bạn có thể kể cho tôi về một trong những buổi dạy thành công của bạn trong quá trình bạn

tham gia các buổi họp được không? Tại sao? Như thế nào?

PHẦN 2

7. Bạn có thích các buổi họp hay không? Tại sao thích/ không thích? Điều gì khiến bạn thích

nhất?

8. Bạn tham gia vào các buổi họp như thế nào?

9. Bạn nghĩ gì về các buổi họp?

- Nội dung có liên quan đến bạn?

- Có giúp bạn phản ánh những vấn đề liên quan tới việc giảng dạy của bạn? Như thế nào?

- Bạn có học được gì hữu ích cho việc giảng dạy từ các buổi họp? Như thế nào?

- Bạn có áp dụng chiến lược mà bạn học được từ các buổi họp không?

- Bạn có nghĩ các buổi họp giúp bạn cải thiện việc giảng dạy của bạn? Như thế nào?

- Bạn có nghĩ các buổi họp đã thay đổi cách bạn nhìn nhận mình trong vai trò giáo viên cũng

như cách người khác nhìn bạn trong vai trò giáo viên? Như thế nào?

- Bạn có nghĩ các buổi họp này là một hoạt động hiệu quả để phát triển/bồi dưỡng chuyên

môn cho giáo viên hay không? Tại sao?

10. Bạn có gợi ý/ đề xuất nào cho các buổi họp hiệu quả hơn?

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 Appendix F. Guided reflective journal

SAMPLE OF REFLECTIVE WRITING JOURNALS

I. Your group’s reflections on today’s CoP meeting - List 3 things for each question.

1. What have you learned in today’s CoP meeting?

2. What do you want to learn more about in the next CoP meeting?

3. What might you apply from this CoP in your teaching practice?

II. Your reflections on today’s CoP meeting

1. What did you do in today’s meeting? (your engagements, collaborations, and sharing)

2. How do you feel about today’s meeting? Is it successful or not?

3. What made it successful/unsuccessful?

III. My own reflections

Before CoP meetings

1. Do I know exactly what my role will be in the meeting?

2. Are there any anticipated problems in today’s meeting?

3. How can I prepare to make the meeting successful and effective?

After CoP meetings

4. What did I do in today’s meeting? (my role, facilitation, engagement, interaction,

collaboration and sharing)

5. What happened in today’s meeting? (participants’ engagements, collaborations, and

sharing)

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6. How do I feel about today’s meeting? Is it successful or not? What makes it

successful/unsuccessful?

7. Is there anything I need to change/fix to make the next meeting better?

Translated Version

NHẬT KÝ TỰ ĐÁNH GIÁI

I. Tự đánh giá của nhóm bạn về buổi họp hôm nay- Liệt kê 3 ý cho mỗi câu hỏi

1. Nhóm bạn học được gì trong buổi họp hôm nay?

2. Nhóm bạn muốn biết thêm điều gì ở buổi họp tiếp theo?

3. Nhóm bạn có thể áp dụng điều gì từ buổi họp hôm nay cho công việc giảng dạy của các

bạn?

II. Tự đánh giá của chính bạn về buổi họp hôm nay

1. Bạn đã làm gì trong buổi họp hôm nay? (tham gia, chia sẻ, hợp tác)

2. Bạn cảm thấy như thế nào về buổi họp hôm nay? Thành công hay không?

3. Điều gì khiến nó thành công/không thành công?

III. Tự đánh giá của tôi

Trước buổi họp

1. Tôi có biết chính xác vaii trò của mình là gì trong buổi họp không?

2. Những vấn đề có thể xảy ra trong buổi họp hôm này là gì?

3. Tôi có thể làm gì/ như thế nào để buổi họp thành công và hiệu quả?

Sau buổi họp

4. Tôi đã làm gì trong buổi họp hôm nay? (vai trò, sự điều tiết, tham gia, cộng tác, giao

lưu và chia sẻ)

5. Điều gì đã xảy ra trong buổi họp hôm nay?

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 6. Tôi cảm thấy như thế nào về buổi họp hôm nay? Nó thành công hay không? Điều gì

khiến nó thành công/không thành công?

7. Có điều gì tôi cần phải thay đổi/ sửa chữa để buổi họp lần sau tốt hơn hay không?

MY OWN REFLECTION

Before CoP meetings

1. Do I know exactly what my role will be in the meeting?

2. Are there any anticipated problems in today’s meeting?

3. How can I prepare to make the meeting successful and effective?

After CoP meetings

4. What did I do in today’s meeting? (my role, facilitation, engagement, interaction,

collaboration and sharing)

5. What happened in today’s meeting? (participants’ engagements, collaborations, and

sharing)

6. How do I feel about today’s meeting? Is it successful or not? What makes it

successful/unsuccessful?

7. Is there anything I need to change/fix to make the next meeting better?

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Appendix G. Ethics approval

315
Appendix H. Artefact collection

316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
Appendix I. Hours per semester per participant at the time of data collection

330