TESOL Quarterly - 2019 - Nguyen

Second Language Teacher Education in
Response to Local Needs: Preservice

Teachers of English Learning to Teach
Diverse Learners in Communities
CHINH DUC NGUYEN
University of Danang
Danang, Vietnam
TU CAM THI DANG
Hue University of Foreign Languages
Hue, Vietnam
Second language teacher education (SLTE) has changed its focus

from cognitive to sociocultural perspectives. By considering located
SLTE and community learning, this qualitative study was conducted
to explore how preservice teachers of English as a foreign language
learned to teach in response to learning needs in a Vietnamese city.
Data sources for the study were written assignments produced by pre-
service teachers and in-depth interviews with them. Through their
engagement in the local community, the preservice teachers identi-
fied nine groups of adult learners who were not able to gain access
to English learning in the formal schooling system. Those learners
sought to learn English not only to meet their personal and profes-
sional needs but also to contribute to socioeconomic development
of the local community. Based on the findings regarding the local
learners’ needs and characteristics, the preservice teachers developed
pedagogical practices appropriate to each specific group of learners
and suggested that university-based SLTE programmes should
embrace diverse learners and community-based teacher learning.
The study substantiates the concept of located SLTE and offers some
implications for SLTE in response to local needs.
doi: 10.1002/tesq.551
I n line with the sociocultural turn in education in general, second

language teacher education (SLTE) has undergone a marked trans-
formation (Burns & Richards, 2009). For decades, teachers were sim-
ply viewed as technicians who were supposed to acquire knowledge in
404 TESOL QUARTERLY Vol. 54, No. 2, June 2020

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training courses (Johnson, 2009a; C. D. Nguyen 2017b). However, tea-
cher learning is, from a sociocultural perspective, inclined towards
social practice, which is simply understood as “a dynamic social activity
that is situated in physical and social contexts, and distributed across
persons, tools, and activities” (Johnson, 2006, p. 237). Both research
and practice in teacher education have been marked by a number of
transformative approaches to teacher learning, such as identity con-
struction, reflective practice, and collaborative teaching. Community-
based teaching learning, which refers to learning to teach by partici-
pating in communities, has been recognised as contributing to the
transformation of the field (Farnsworth, 2010). Although increasingly
integrated into teacher education for other disciplines, community-
based teacher learning has had limited impact on SLTE (Sharkey,
2012). Against this backdrop, more research is needed to explore in
what ways teachers of a second language (L2) develop their
knowledge and practice of teaching by being engaged in
communities.
Together with transformations in practice, SLTE today tends to
advocate a locally responsive curriculum, which supports teachers’
development of knowledge and pedagogy appropriate to local contexts
(Hawkins, 2011; Sharkey, 2012). Educating L2 teachers in this way is
known as located SLTE, whose core idea is to prepare L2 teachers to
teach in ways that are relevant to a local context on the basis of a sys-
tem of locally responsive practices (Johnson, 2009a). In this study, we
aimed to study located SLTE in the context of Vietnam by selecting a
city in Vietnam (with the pseudonym Central City). Preservice
teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) in this city and
throughout the country undergo training in universities where they
are prepared to teach learners in formal schools in accordance with
the national curriculum and prescribed textbooks. Though educated
in this way, very few can find a teaching post in the government-run
schooling system because the quota of teachers is limited (Nha,
2017). As a result, a large number of teacher graduates who still wish
to pursue a teaching career tend to teach learners outside the formal
schooling system, especially adults who need English for practical and
professional purposes. According to Bui and Nguyen (2016), there
has been increasing demand for English from various social and
professional groups throughout Vietnam. This reality has implications
for SLTE in Viet- nam today. More specifically, preparing future
teachers to teach in communities as well as in schools is considered a
practical solution and an aim of located SLTE.
This study was conducted to explore how preservice teaching Eng-
lish to speakers of other languages (TESOL) candidates learned to
teach adult learners through their field trips to communities. More
specifically, it aimed to examine (1) preservice teachers’ exploration
LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES 405

of the English learning needs in local communities and (2) the peda-
gogical practices in response to local needs that preservice teachers
gained from community-based teacher learning. The study also aimed
to highlight (3) how educators/teacher trainers used preservice teach-
ers’ community-based learning experiences for innovating university-
based SLTE.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Community-Based Teacher Learning
A community-based approach to teacher education, whereby “tea-
cher learning is situated in the interactions that take place outside the
formal school contexts” (Farnsworth, 2010, p. 1481), has been
employed in a large number of teacher preparation programmes (Har-
fitt, 2018; C. D. Nguyen & Zeichner, 2019; Payne & Zeichner, 2017;
Sharkey, Clavijo Olarte, & Ram´ırez, 2016). The widespread implemen-
tation of this approach indicates the innovation and progress of the
field in shifting teacher learning to sociocultural perspectives. The pri-
mary reason for advocating this approach is the persistent disconnec-
tion between university coursework and school practice (Cochran-
Smith et al., 2016). By participating in local communities, teachers
have a chance to work with learners as well as other involved parties,
such as school leaders, teachers, and students’ parents (Payne & Zeich-
ner, 2017; Sharkey et al., 2016). In addition to practical knowledge,
experiences gained from community fieldwork assist teachers in con-
textualising students’ lives as part of the dynamic of the greater com-
munity (Hallman & Burdick, 2015; Zeichner, Bowman, Guillen, &
Napolitan, 2016). Therefore, community teachers are able to under-
stand the culture of communities and learners’ identities, thereby
developing pedagogical practices appropriate to the learners and local-
ities (Murrell, 2001).
The benefits of learning to teach in boundary zones outside of
school is succinctly expressed as follows: “They [preservice teachers]
can encounter and engage with different perspectives and forms of
knowledge rather than those they typically accessed in schools and uni-
versity-based spaces” (Zeichner, Payne, & Brayko, 2015, p. 7). For the
mission of transforming teacher education, Payne and Zeichner
(2017) suggested an epistemological shift in teacher education
whereby community knowledge is combined with the academic knowl-
edge provided in institutions of teacher education. That is, preservice
teachers learn knowledge and skills from three sources: university
classrooms, schools, and the community setting. Drawing on the
406 TESOL QUARTERLY

benefits of engagement in community-based learning to preservice
teachers, Zeichner et al. (2015) put forward the concept of hybrid
spaces for teacher education at higher education institutions, where
“academic, school-based, and community-based knowledge come
together in less hierarchical and haphazard ways to support teacher
learning” (p. 3).
Despite the aforementioned benefits, community-based teacher
learning has received scant attention from both research and practice
in SLTE (Sharkey, 2012). Because alternative learning experiences are
increasingly encouraged in SLTE, we need more research on alterna-
tive models such as community-based learning, which may in turn
inform the practice of SLTE today (Wright, 2010). In addition to lim-
ited influence of community-based learning on SLTE, this approach
has been implemented mainly in Western countries, especially the
United States (Mills & Ballantyne, 2016). For the agenda of transfor-
mation in teacher education, community-based teacher learning has
been employed in other countries, such as Colombia (Sharkey, 2012;
Sharkey et al., 2016) and Hong Kong (Harfitt, 2018). In Vietnam, tea-
cher education is still grounded in transmission models whereby teach-
ers learn through the provision of knowledge from lecturers (C. D.
Nguyen, 2017b). Therefore, community-based learning is welcomed as
innovation in teacher preparation for L2 and other fields in Vietnam
(Hamano, 2008; C. D. Nguyen & Zeichner, 2019; L. Nguyen, 2014).
This research study was therefore conducted to engage preservice
TESOL candidates in this innovative practice of teacher learning.
Located Second Language Teacher Education

Teacher learning today is not confined merely to the locus of “in-
structed teacher-training environments” but expanded to “the wider
influences of socialization evident in individual development” (Free-
man, 2009, p. 15). On this premise of transformation, research on
SLTE places a great weight on the local contexts in which teachers
and learners are situated. Johnson (2009a) refers to this trend or this
approach to teacher learning as located second language teacher education:
“Both the content and activities of L2 teacher education must take
into account the social, political, economic, and cultural histories that
are ‘located’ in the contexts where L2 teachers learn and teach” (p.
114).
For the importance of local contexts that shape teacher education
and eventually students’ learning, Hawkins (2011) argues that the ped-
agogy and curriculum of SLTE “must be responsive to local contexts
and contingencies” (p. 3). Basically, the concept of located SLTE is

grounded in sociocultural or situated perspectives on teacher learning
because teachers and teaching are socially, historically, culturally, and
politically situated within a local–global or micro–macro system (Haw-
kins, 2011; Johnson, 2009a, 2009b; C. D. Nguyen, 2017a).
From the perspective of located SLTE, a large body of research has
explored teacher learning in local contexts. A salient theme concerns
how L2 teachers constructed and enacted their identities in response to
the social, cultural, and educational conditions of local contexts (Duff &
Uchida, 1997; C. D. Nguyen, 2017b; Sayer, 2012; Simon-Maeda, 2004).
In the Vietnamese EFL context, for instance, teachers’ construction of
identity specific to local reality was also foregrounded (Dang, 2013; C. D.
Nguyen, 2016). In addition to focusing on L2 teachers’ identities,
research studies have highlighted how local teachers developed their
pedagogies appropriate to the schooling system or locally educational
discourses. More specifically, EFL teachers in a variety of localities, espe-
cially in Asia, showed their resistance to the Western import of teaching
methods or curriculum innovation imposed by policymakers (Hayes,
2009; Hu, 2005; Liu & Xu, 2011; Tsui, 2007; Xu & Connelly, 2009). From
their perspective, the imported pedagogies and curriculums were inap-
propriate for both themselves as teachers and their students. Locally
appropriate SLTE in this sense, as pointed out by Johnson (2009a, p.
114), is not to force L2 teachers to conform to “hegemonic practices”
imposed on them, but to give them spaces in which they create pedagog-
ical values in accordance with local discourses. To date, the notion of
located SLTE has been embedded in the umbrella concept of a sociocul-
tural perspective on SLTE. The substantiation or elaboration of the con-
cept mainly drew on the research literature that has foregrounded
teachers’ resistance to pedagogical practices or reform imposed on them
and their struggles for what is deemed locally appropriate (Kumaravadi-
velu, 2006). Against this backdrop, located SLTE necessitates a more
comprehensive and further examination from a different angle rather
than locally responsive pedagogies only. That is, besides preparing
teachers to be able to construct teaching methods appropriate to learn-
ers and their learning culture in a local context, located SLTE engages
teachers in broader issues such as preparing teachers who would be able
to teach L2 for community development. From a socioeconomic point
of view, SLTE needs to prepare preservice teachers to work with a diver-
sity of learners and a diversity of needs. This highlights the role of lan-
guage education, especially English as a global language, in
socioeconomic development in local contexts today (Bui & Nguyen,
2016; Ricento, 2015; Seargeant & Erling, 2013; Walsh, 2006).
With regard to social needs, the demand for English competence
comes from learners of various ages and with different purposes (Cum-
mins & Davison, 2007). However, English language instruction still, to
408 TESOL QUARTERLY

some extent, falls short of catering to a diverse population of learners.
Our literature review indicates that SLTE, whether from a sociocul-
tural or located perspective, has not taken learner diversity into
account. Taking a course book for TESOL methodologies as an exam-
ple, we can see that the concept of “language learners” introduced to
teachers is still general with a classification of learners into “young,”
“adolescent,” and “adult” (Harmer, 2007). Thus, SLTE should expand
to other learners rather than focus mostly on students at school. This
is why Kumaravadivelu (2012) calls for reform in L2 teacher education
for a global society. That is, learners as well as their needs and
motivation should be addressed in relation to macro-level,
socioeconomic, and educational contexts as well as micro-level
matters. Located SLTE in this sense moves towards preparing L2
teachers to be able to teach a variety of students in response to
socioeconomic development of a specific locality. This direction is also
congruent with the current reform of higher education, which seeks to
foster graduates’ employability in the labour market (L. H. N. Tran,
2017). As explained by the National Foreign Language Project 2020
(Decision No. 1400, 2008), Vietnamese citizens have to learn English
to enhance national and regional employability and be able to
communicate effectively in global job markets. To achieve this goal,
English language education needs to attend to various learners and
their needs. Thus, the current study aimed at engaging preservice
teachers of TESOL in exploring various needs for learning English in a
Vietnamese city.
On the premise of located SLTE and community-based learning,
the current study addresses the following research questions (RQs):
1. What were the English language learning needs in local com-
munities explored by TESOL preservice teachers?
2. Based on their community-based learning experiences, what
pedagogical practices did the preservice teachers construct in
response to local needs?
3. To what extent did the preservice teachers’ community-based
learning inform changes in the TESOL/SLTE curriculum at the
university?
STUDY METHODOLOGY
Participants and Context of the Study
This qualitative study was conducted at a university in Vietnam with
the pseudonym Central University (CU). CU has an established history

of educating foreign language teachers, especially TESOL candidates.
The TESOL programme offered at CU takes a maximum of 4 years,
the standard for the majority of undergraduate programmes in Viet-
namese higher education. The curriculum is prescribed by the Min-
istry of Education and Training through the Curriculum Framework
(see Appendix A). Upon graduation, teacher candidates (TCs) are
awarded a bachelor’s degree and are able to teach English in senior
secondary schools. Similar to other institutions in Vietnam, the TESOL
programme at Central University aims to prepare teachers for
teaching English in the system of formal schooling based on a national
curriculum, notably prescribed textbooks. In particular, preservice
teachers are provided with knowledge and practice of teaching EFL to
students up to 18 years old. Based on our experience as lecturers and
researchers in SLTE, the needs of learners beyond the ages for
formal schooling have not been addressed in any single course of the
programme despite a great demand for English from this population.
As such, we used our initiative to introduce located SLTE in Central
University, a typical institution for TESOL/SLTE.
The participants of this study were 51 TCs who started their under-
graduate study of TESOL in 2013 and finished in 2017. The majority
of the participants chose TESOL because of their love of English and
teaching, and the TESOL programme at CU was an initial preparation
for their teaching trajectory. At the time of investigation, the partici-
pants ranged from 21 to 23 years of age, and approximately half had
13 years of EFL learning experience and the rest 10 years. Language
Teaching Methodologies (LTMs) is one of the core courses of the
TESOL curriculum and aims to provide candidates with theories and
general principles of L2 learning. In particular, the course includes
four modules: Insights Into L2 Learners, Reasons for L2 Learning,
What L2 Learners Should Learn, and Methods and Approaches to L2
Teaching. The TCs took this course in the first semester of their third
year. A field trip to a local community was designed as midterm assess-
ment of the course, which consisted of 40% of the total grade. The
TCs’ participation in local communities through their field trips is
regarded as community-based teacher learning, whereby teachers not
only develop knowledge and skills but also establish their relationship
in local communities (Payne & Zeichner, 2017).
Data Collection
Data sources for this study included written assignments produced
by preservice teachers and interviews with them. The detail of collect-
ing each source is described below.
410 TESOL QUARTERLY

In the first week of the semester, the lecturer of the LTMs course,
who was the main investigator, briefed the TCs on the midterm assess-
ment. Drawing on discussion between the lecturer and the TCs about
their career prospects upon graduation (the unlikelihood of gaining a
position in the school system and a trend for graduates to teach adult
learners in communities), the class reached a decision on what the
TCs would do for their field trips to communities.
The TCs worked in groups of five or six for a field trip to investigate
the needs of learning English in local communities. Both the lecturer
and the TCs agreed that priority would be given to adult learners,
whose needs cannot be met in the formal schooling system. Because
the total number of TCs enrolled in the course was 51, nine groups
were formed (three groups with five members and six groups with six
members). All the groups were required to spend the first week
socialising in local communities to gain an initial understanding of
the learners and their needs for English instruction. In the second
week, the lecturer worked with all the groups to determine what
category of learners would be chosen by each group of TCs. After
discussion and negotiation, the class reached a final decision: Each
group of TCs investigated a specific category of learners during the
field trip (see Table 1). To help readers easily refer to a specific group
of TCs and their chosen learners for the field trip, we used the letter G
with a number from 1 to 9, followed by the category of learners in
brackets. For example, G1 [cyclo riders] refers to the group of TCs
numbered 1 and cyclo riders as the category of chosen learners.
Each group had 5 weeks for involvement in local communities and
3 weeks for reporting their field trip experiences in a written assign-
ment (report) as group work, within the limit of 4,000 words, to
address four guiding questions (see Table 2). With this design, TCs
applied the theories provided in each module to the practice of teach-
ing their chosen learners. In addition, the designed field trip reported
through a written assignment was part of the course assessment,
thereby necessitating TCs’ engagement and socialisation with commu-
nity members. As Bieler (2012) pointed out, written assignments give
TCs an opportunity to gain in-depth understanding of their teaching
practice. The guiding questions for both the field trip and the written
assignment were developed from the four modules of LTMs (see
Table 2). These guiding questions were also used as a frame for data
analysis. For example, drawing on theories provided in the first two
modules on L2 learners and their purposes of learning L2, each group
of TCs addressed the questions of who their chosen learners were and
why the chosen learners wanted to learn English. In the written
assignment of each group, the sections addressing these two guiding
questions provided the data in answer to RQ1. Similarly, modules 3
and 4

TABLE 1
Local Learners and Their Reasons for Learning English
Group of teacher
Learners’ profile
candidates and their
chosen category of
Reasons for English
learners
Job details Age learning
1 [Cyclo riders]males Men earning living by
transporting goods and 35– Communicating with
passengers on traditional three- 65 international visitors/
wheeled vehicles named cyclos passengers
2 [Hotel staff]mixed Chambermaids, porters,
concierges, waiters, and 26– Being promoted to a
waitresses working at small 35 position in a better hotel
hotels
3 [Officers/ Officers or employees having a 30– Socialising with
employees]mixed full-time job in private or state- 50 international business
owned companies or partners
organisations
4 [Stay-at-home Local residents (fishermen, 35– Conducting simple
learners]mixed peasants, and shop owners) 50 transactions in English
involved in homestay services with international visitors
in the district, known as a
holiday destination to
international tourists
5 [Officers in local Officers in local government Over Using English for email
government]mixed 40 and basic communication
6 [Shop assistants] Local people working in 20– Communicating and
females souvenir shops in Central City 40 selling local products to
international visitors
7 [Travellers to Local residents preparing for 40– Communicating in basic
foreign countries] trips overseas 50 English while travelling
mixed abroad
8 [Workers in Labourers working in 20– Talking to foreign
factories]males manufacturing factories owned 40 supervisors and
by foreign investors understanding their
instructions
9 [Street vendors] Local residents, mainly women, 30– Communicating and
females selling local produce and 50 selling local products to
souvenirs to international international visitors on
visitors on streets streets
of LTMs were linked to guiding questions 3 and 4 for the field trips
and written assignments, which provided the data for RQ2. Once sub-
mitted by all the groups, the assignments were graded by the lecturer
of LTMs, who was also the main investigator.
Regarding interviews, a member of each group of TCs was invited for a
semistructured interview shortly after graduation, 18 months after the
field trip, so that he or she was able to provide a comprehensive view on
university-based teacher education in relation to the field trip and job-
seeking experiences. The second researcher in this study conducted nine
interviews in total, one with a representative from each group of TCs.
These representatives were selected based on their willingness. The
412 TESOL QUARTERLY

interviews focused on highlighting what the TCs had learned during their
engagement in local communities as well as their suggestions for trans-
forming the TESOL teacher education programme at CU (see
Appendix B). This source of data helped to answer RQ3.
Researchers’ Positionality
The researchers played an important role in this study. As the main
investigator and the lecturer of the course LTMs, the first author initi-
ated engagement of the students in field trips to local communities as
TABLE 2
Structure of Data Collection and Analysis
Written assignments reporting TCs’ field trips
Module in LTMs Guiding questions Research Themes selected for Knowledge
for field trips and question analysis base
written addressed (Darling-
assignments Hammond &
Bransford,
2005)
Insights Into L2 Who is in need of 1 A diversity of Learners and
Learners English in learners (nine learning in
communities?What categories)Beyond social
are their learning ages for formal contexts
characteristics? schooling
Reasons for L2 Why do they want 1 English learning for
Learning to learn English? personal or
occupational
purposesLearning
purposes in
connection with
local needs
What L2 Learners What do they need 2 Communication and Curriculum
Should Learn to be taught (e.g., communicative and subject
language skills, skillsSyllabus/ matter
materials)? materials designated
to learners’ needs
Methods and What approaches 2 Locally responsive Teaching
Approaches to L2 and methods are approaches to
Teaching appropriate to teaching
their needs?
Interviews
TCs’ experience of Semistructured 3 SLTE curriculum Three
community-based interviews inclusive of diverse domains
learning for learnersCommunity- combined
transforming based learning
university-based incorporated into
SLTE university-based
SLTE
Note. TC = teacher candidate; LTM = language teaching methodology; SLTE = second lan-
guage teacher education.

an innovative way of learning to teach. This decision stemmed from
the author’s perceived gaps between global and local practice of tea-
cher education, that is, sociocultural learning or transformative models
as global trends of SLTE in contrast to traditional approaches in Viet-
nam. As the lecturer of LTMs, the first author positioned himself as
an insider in this study for the following reasons. First, working with
students in his institution was an advantage for his access to the
research site. Second, the first author is responsible for teaching LTMs
in every academic year. Third, by teaching his students as participants
in this study, he was able to adapt the midterm assessment to the field
work and written assignment. However, he also positioned himself as
an outsider during the field trip of each group of TCs in the sense
that they were involved in a community by themselves. The first author
only supervised the progress of each group by asking the leader to
report what they were doing. To make his positionality more objective,
the first author invited a colleague from another institution of foreign
language teacher education to participate in the study as the second
researcher, who is the second author of this article and, more impor-
tantly, an outsider to the research site. Both researchers share a pas-
sion for research and seeking innovations in SLTE.
Data Analysis
Data analysis drew on thematic analysis, a widely used strategy for
qualitative research (Boyatzis, 1998; Braun & Clarke, 2006). As stated
in the literature review, the concept of located SLTE initially put for-
ward by Johnson (2009a) needs further research and theorisation.
Because the concept focuses on the importance of local contexts, it
was not theoretically robust for data analysis. Therefore, we decided to
relate the identified themes to the proposed knowledge base of Dar- ling-
Hammond and Bransford (2005) regarding learning to teach, which
comprises three domains: knowledge of learners and learning in
social contexts, knowledge of teaching, and knowledge of curriculum
and subject matter. These three themes also fit well with the three
research questions of this study.
By considering the guiding questions for the TCs’ field trips and
written assignments, we read all the submitted assignments for coding
and identifying themes. As in Table 2, the guiding questions framed
the analysis of data from written assignments. For example, questions
1 and 2 helped us select codes relevant to who needed to learn Eng-
lish, what learning characteristics they had, and why they needed to
learn English. By grouping the codes, we identified the themes a diver-
sity of learners in communities, English learning for personal and occupational
414 TESOL QUARTERLY

purposes, and learning purposes in connection to local needs. These themes
were presented as findings in answer to RQ1. Because data analysis
partly lent a theoretical base to the knowledge base of learning to
teach, the above-mentioned themes were related to the knowledge
domain of learners and learning contexts (Darling-Hammond &
Bransford, 2005). We continued the data analysis with guiding ques-
tions 3 and 4 designed for the TCs’ field trips and written assignments.
The results yielded three themes—communication and communicative
skills, syllabus/materials tailored to local needs, and locally responsive
approaches to teaching—which answered RQ2.
Regarding the interview data, we were both responsible for analysis
to ensure the validity of the inter-rating process. Thematic analysis was
also used for this set of data. On the ground of TCs’ community expe-
riences for transforming university-based teacher education as the
focus of each interview, we particularly examined the curriculum and
pedagogy of university-based TESOL teacher education that needed to
be changed on the basis of the TCs’ community-based learning experi-
ences. The interview data indicate that changes in curriculum and
pedagogy of the TESOL programme were also the most frequent sug-
gestions made by the interviewees. As a result, two themes were identi-
fied as the TCs’ suggestions for transforming their TESOL programme
at CU, which helped to address RQ3. To triangulate the data (i.e., the
suggestions the TCs provided in the interviews), we also examined the
current curriculum of the TESOL programme at Central University in
combination with our experience in SLTE. In particular, we analysed
all the courses related to TESOL theories and practice to see how the
interviewees’ perspectives or ideas were innovative or different from
what was addressed in those courses. In addition, we drew on our 10-
year experience of educating TESOL teachers to see in what ways the
interviewees’ suggestions for innovating the TESOL programme were
different from the knowledge and belief of the previous generations
of preservice teachers. Because one researcher was responsible for writ-
ing the findings identified from each type of data, the draft version of
analysis was sent to the other for feedback. It was also sent to three
TCs for member checking as in qualitative research.
FINDINGS
Discovery of English Learning Needs in Local Communities
This section describes the findings of preservice teachers when they
explored the English learning needs of local communities as the first
step of their written group assignment.

Types of learners. A diversity of learners, all beyond ages for for-
mal schooling and representing a wide range of social classes, emerged
from our qualitative analysis of the TCs’ work. As shown in Table 1,
each group of TCs identified a specific category of learners, making a
total of nine, who represented a wide range of social classes and pro-
fessional backgrounds. More specifically, learners as travellers to for-
eign countries were representative of an upper class. As explained in
the assignment of G7, “those learners were mainly businesspeople or
high-ranking government officials who had a lot of money.” Other
groups of learners (i.e., officers/employees and officers in local gov-
ernment) were considered representatives of a middle class with well-
educated and professional backgrounds. Stay-at-home learners were
also grouped into a middle class in terms of their income and finan-
cial status, but their educational background was much lower than that
of officers. Learners who were hotel staff, shop assistants, and factory
workers were also described as lower middle classes. More significant
were the categories of learners, including cyclo riders and street ven-
dors, whose job was described as “unskilled,” “low-income,” and “unsta-
ble” (G1 [cyclo riders] assignment). In terms of socioeconomic status
in the broader society, these two groups are seen as underprivileged
groups because of their limited access to education and job opportuni-
ties.
Data gathered from the nine written assignments indicate that all
the learners were of post–school age. Their background of English
learning varied among the categories, from none (some cyclo riders
and street vendors) to approximately 9 years (7 years at secondary edu-
cation and 2 years at universities for some officers). However, most of
the learners had forgotten what they had been taught, and their Eng-
lish language proficiency at the time of the field trips was nearly at the
same beginner level.
In their written assignment, each group of TCs identified character-
istics of the category of chosen learners. As mentioned in each assign-
ment, learners could not study as quickly and effectively as students at
secondary schools or universities. Time constraints were also seen as
one of the salient challenges for all learners:
They have to work hard all day in factories. When going home, they
have to be with their family. Therefore, it is difficult for them to
arrange a fixed time for their English class. Even when a class is set up
for them, they cannot attend regularly.
(G8 [factory workers] assignment)
According to the TCs of G3 [officers], learners tended to have nega-
tive attitudes when reflecting on their prior experience of English
416 TESOL QUARTERLY

learning at schools or universities. Presented in their assignment was
an officer sharing his past experience of failure and attempts to seek
new practice:
English teaching during my school time was not as good as today
because we just learned vocabulary and grammar. That’s why we’re not
good at communication today. Now I really want to learn English in an
effective way.
(G3 [officers] assignment)
Together with the characteristics regarded as challenges to learning,
each group of TCs explored a variety of advantages for learning Eng-
lish that their chosen learners had. Our qualitative data analysis of the
nine assignments shows that the nine groups were attributed with the
following characteristics: rich life experience that they bring to each lesson
(G5 [officers in local government]), sense of discipline and responsibility
(G8 [workers in factories]), high motivation (G2 [hotel staff]), and com-
mitment to learning (G6 [shop assistants]). These positive characteristics,
according to each group of TCs, helped both the learners and their
teachers achieve the learning objectives.
Reasons for learning English. Learners sought to learn English for

personal and occupational purposes in relation to local needs. As pre-
sented in the assignments of each group of TCs, the learners’ motiva-
tion for learning English was to meet their job requirements and
personal needs. Apart from travellers, the other eight groups of learn-
ers perceived English competence as a vehicle for their professional
promotion and advancement. Through each assignment, the idea of
promotion was specific to each group of learners’ jobs. For example,
three groups of TCs (i.e., G1 [cyclo riders], G6 [shop assistants], and
G9 [street vendors]) noted that the ability to communicate with inter-
national visitors in basic English was more likely to bring about a dif-
ference in the learners’ job, namely a daily income boost:
If cyclo riders know English, they can pick up more tourists and visi-
tors, talking to them. Therefore, they can increase the income and the
standard of living of their family.
(G1 assignment)
This motive for learning English was the same for hotel staff and stay-
at-home learners. According to three groups of TCs (i.e., G3 [officers],
G5 [officers in local government], and G8 [workers in factories]),
these professionals’ motivation for learning also involved a desire for
brighter job prospects. In addition to financial incentives

(pay rise), the learning purposes included the need to upgrade profes-
sional knowledge and stay informed of global trends:
They [officers] want to learn English to access modern knowledge in
their fields. Many officers said that with a good level of English, they
could exchange mails with their foreign partners, attend some interna-
tional seminars, or simply read business news from foreign sources.
(G3 assignment)
The TCs of G7 [travellers to foreign countries] found a great
demand for learning English in local communities for nonprofessional
purposes. For example, learners who were preparing for overseas trips
decided to invest in English as they saw the benefits of English to their
journeys:
A man aged 65 said that many of his friends encountered difficulties
such as culture shock and miscommunication while travelling overseas.
Therefore they looked for an English class to learn basic conversations
for survival.
(G7 assignment)
Learning English for nonoccupational purposes was also found in
other groups of learners whose primary objective was a change or pro-
motion in their work. As stated in the assignments of G3 [officers]
and G5 [officers in local government], these learners, as parents,
sought to invest in learning English for involvement in their children’s
English learning:
Parents now pay more attention to their children’s English education,
so they have to make themselves an example for their children to fol-
low. Besides, parents want to be capable of English to guide their chil-
dren how to learn.
(G3 assignment)
Beyond professional and personal purposes, the TCs discovered a
high demand for English learning in response to the socioeconomic
development of Central City. This reflects the relation between lan-
guage education and socioeconomic development (Bamgbose, 2014;
Walsh, 2006). In particular, the proliferation of tourism and hospital-
ity, the spearhead economic sector of Central City, necessitates English
competence. Therefore, from the perspective of prospective teachers,
the cohort of TCs contended that residents from a variety of socioeco-
nomic backgrounds should be engaged in such an important mission.
In the following extracts, two groups of TCs (i.e., G1 [cyclo riders]
and G9 [street vendors]) explained in what ways their learners could
make a contribution to local development if they knew English:
418 TESOL QUARTERLY

They [cyclo riders] need to know English to introduce local cultures to
international visitors. For example, when riding them on the streets,
cyclo riders can tell them things like names of historic places, local
foods, and a few simple facts about our city.
(G1 assignment)
Although street vendors do not have a highly professional status, they

need to participate in bringing the beauty of our city to international
tourists.
(G9 assignment)
The above extracts indicate the TCs’ awareness of the inclusion of
unskilled groups such as street vendors and cyclo riders in the socioe-
conomic development of Central City. As explained in the assignment
of G9 [street vendors], there is less chance for these learners to “learn
English for earning [a] living” than for highly educated professionals
working in industry. Attending to these underserved groups means
that teaching can be socially inclusive and help to involve all the
socioeconomic classes in developing the hospitality sector of the local
community.
The TCs of G8 [workers in factories] pinpointed the potential contri-
bution of English education in connecting the local labour force to for-
eign-invested businesses. As explained in this group’s assignment, local
residents seeking a position in these factories are required to show com-
petency in English. Therefore, an emphasis should be placed on the role
of English education in developing the manufacturing sector:
There is a great demand for workers with basic command of English
for communicating with foreign supervisors and managers. Those good
at English can get pay rise and promotion easily.
(G8 assignment)
By working with learners who were preparing to travel overseas, the
TCs of G5 [officers in local government] found a high degree of
mobility among local residents. However, as stated in their assignment,
this population of learners failed to find any suitable English classes.
This group of TCs also mentioned others in need of English for
mobility, such as middle-aged people who were preparing for migra-
tion or work overseas. More importantly, learners in this category also
wanted to use English for receiving international visitors in their home
city:
A retired man saw a dramatic increase in international visitors to [Cen-
tral] City, so he wanted to speak to welcome them.
(G5 assignment)

In this case, the TCs of G5 understood the importance of English
in serving local residents in terms of international mobility. As preser-
vice teachers, they also realised the significance of English and their
teaching in transforming Central City into a cosmopolitan milieu.
Pedagogical Practices Drawn From the Community-Based

Experience
Drawing on their understanding of learners and their learning pur-
poses, each group of TCs sought to find the answer to the questions
of what and how to teach them. The findings presented in this
section, therefore, answer RQ2 regarding how the TCs developed
pedagogical practices appropriate to local needs through their
interactive learning with the community (see Table 3).
Communication as the core of the syllabus. Each group of TCs

developed a syllabus for their chosen learners. This syllabus was pre-
sented in each assignment as the content for teaching and learning.
Each group modified and adapted the theoretical background pro-
vided in the module “What to Teach L2 Learners” in accordance with
the local learners’ needs. In the TCs’ opinion, more weight should be
placed on communication and communicative skills. These two terms were
found in all the submitted assignments. At the same time, complicated
knowledge of grammar and academic content should not be the prior-
ity. It is interesting that the notion of a communication-oriented syl-
labus was described and substantiated in different ways, subject to the
needs and characteristics of each category of learners. To groups such
as street vendors, cyclo riders, hotel staff, and shop assistants, teaching
TABLE 3
Pedagogical Practice in Response to Learners’ Needs
Syllabus/learning content Materials Approaches to teaching
• Communication and
communicative skills • Available textbooks • Friendly learning environ-
combined with local ment
• Complicated grammar resources
and academic content • Teachers playing multiple
not prioritised • Job-related vocabulary roles
• Work-related vocabu- • Learner-centred practices
• Local learners’ charac-
teristics taken into con- lary integrated with • Informal spaces of
sideration communication learning
• Flexibility in employing
methods appropriate to
targeted learners
420
TESOL QUARTERLY
English for communication was manifested in learners’ engagement
with foreign visitors in simple conversations. To have a successful con-
versation, as the TCs of Groups 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, and 9 pointed out in their
assignments, learners were supposed to possess a repertoire of simple
sentences and high-frequency words. More importantly, mutual under-
standing needed to be achieved:
Learners have to make sure that international visitors understand what
they mean and vice versa. To achieve this goal, teachers should involve
them in real-life communication.
(G6 [shop assistants] assignment)
To facilitate communicative efficiency, all the groups of TCs took
local learners’ characteristics into consideration. More specifically,
seven of the nine groups mentioned that pronunciation mistakes were
more likely to be made by the learners:
Most of the learners are over 40 years old, so they may have more prob-
lems with pronunciation [of English] than young learners. They need
to be explained about the importance of correct pronunciation in com-
munication.
(G2 [hotel staff] assignment)
Materials and resources tailored to local learners. The resources

for teaching and learning, as each group of TCs recommended,
should be developed using a combination of available textbooks and
local sources. As an example, learning resources for the group of stay- at-
home learners were developed from “simple English leaflets and
advertisements about local hotels or holiday services” (G4 assignment).
As synthesised from the nine assignments, positive learning outcomes
were highly dependent on teachers’ creativity and flexibility in devel-
oping and using materials in accordance with the learners’ needs.
The richest part of each group’s assignment lay in job-related
vocabulary tailored to learners. In this sense, locally responsive teaching
was dependent on ideas and specific activities for teaching
vocabulary. Each group suggested a wide range of vocabulary topics
that their targeted learners could use for practical purposes at work.
For example, lexical items in English related to local produce, food,
and culture in general were introduced to street vendors and cyclo
riders. Similarly, skilled workers learned English words specific to
machines and tech- nology. More importantly, the work-related
vocabulary was integrated with communication. Drawing on this
combination, each group of TCs devised a range of topics for learners
to engage in communication. Shop assistants, for instance, learned a
variety of topics as follows:

At first, they will be taught vocabulary about local foods and products.
Later, they will learn how to use English for greeting customers, bar-
gaining, introducing local products, and giving directions and instruc-
tions to international visitors.
(G6 assignment)
Locally responsive approaches to teaching. Moving to the question

of how to teach, each group of TCs suggested a wide range of strate-
gies and practices appropriate to their chosen learners. To motivate
the learners, all the groups found it effective to create a friendly learn-
ing environment in which the teacher played multiple roles, including
“a transmitter of knowledge” (G4 assignment), “a facilitator” (G2
assignment), “a supporter” (G8 assignment), and even “a friend” (G9
assignment). Working with the group of officers in local government,
the TCs of G5 understood their prior experiences of failure in English
learning, thereby stressing the importance of sustaining their motiva-
tion and interest:
It is important to keep them motivated and interested in learning.
Many of them said that they had gradually lost their interest over the
course.
(G5 assignment)
A number of activities were presented in each group’s assignment
to engage learners in English lessons, such as role-play, pair work,
group work and discussion. Emerging from the list of suggested activi-
ties was the choice of new practices explained as “learner-centred activ-
ities” (G7 assignment). Similarly, G2 [officers] substantiated an activity
proposed for their learners:
The teacher let learners experience and have fun with English. This
way is more efficient with adults’ learning than the traditional model
of teacher-fronted classroom.
(G2 assignment)
To four groups of TCs—G2 [hotel staff], G4 [stay-at-home learners],
G6 [shop assistants] and G9 [street vendors—field learning was
employed for most of the course in the sense that these learners
would “learn from their firsthand experience with foreigners” (G9
assignment). Interestingly, informal spaces of learning were also con-
sidered conducive to the remaining groups of learners. Some of the
informal, friendly learning forms were “gathering in streets for foreign-
ers” (officers in local government), “team building” (workers in facto-
ries), and “socialising with international visitors in clubs” (travellers to
422 TESOL QUARTERLY

foreign countries). An emergent model of English-speaking practice in
coffee shops was highly recommended for adult learners in Central
City:
In [Central City], English-speaking coffees have sprung up as a trend
recently. The good point of these shops is that they have foreigners
available there. The atmosphere of speaking in coffee shops is more
comfortable than that in the class. Therefore, pressure is eliminated.
This is especially useful for those who have had bad experience with
English learning or who hold such suppositions that they are too aged
to learn foreign languages since they keep making mistakes.
(G3 [officers] assignment)
Various approaches and methods were introduced to the TCs
through the module “Methods and Approaches to L2 Teaching.” In
translating theory into practice, each group showed their flexibility in
employing a method appropriate to their targeted learners. The fol-
lowing extract explains a decision of G5 on teaching methods for offi-
cers in local government:
I don’t think a single approach or method would be efficient for learn-
ers. In the course plan, we chose different methods for each learning
unit. Even in a lesson, the first activity may be conducted with the
Direct Method, and the second with Grammar-Translation, and the last
with Communicative Method. Another thing I noticed is that these
methods, when used in real practice, would be different from theories.
So teachers have to adapt a lot to their interests and characters.
(G5 assignment)
Other groups of TCs also proposed a combination of different
methods, depending on each group of learners’ purposes, educational
level, and job requirements. In general, the pedagogical practices pro-
posed in each group’s assignment indicate their understanding of
local learners and their ability to construct the knowledge and
practice of teaching in response to local needs.
Community-Based Learning Experience as a Contribution to

Transforming University-Based Second Language Teacher
Education
Drawing on their field experiences, the TCs put forward suggestions

for transforming the TESOL programme at CU as presented in two
themes as follows.

Second language teacher education curriculum inclusive of diverse
learners. As described in the context of this study, the curriculum of
the selected university is required by the Vietnam Ministry of Educa-
tion and Training to include certain components to ensure the consis-
tency of similar programmes among different universities across the
nation (D. N. Tran, Nguyen, & Nguyen, 2011). The goal of the TESOL
programme at CU is to train TCs to become EFL teachers at senior
secondary schools in Vietnam. However, the participants in this study
disapproved of such a uniform curriculum for TESOL because there
was a high demand from diverse learners of English in local communi-
ties. Therefore, they proposed a locally responsive TESOL curriculum.
In the following excerpts, two interviewees looked forward to an inno-
vative TESOL programme that would help preservice teachers to tackle
diverse groups of learners, not restricted to students in formal schools:
Almost every course related to TESOL methodologies aims at learners
in schools. After working with a variety of learners during the field trip,
I think the courses need to include such diversity. Students [TCs] need
to be prepared to teach those learners, not just school learners.
(G1 representative)
If the TESOL programme includes a variety of groups of learners, stu-

dents [TCs] will have more employment opportunities after gradua-
tion. It also means that some groups of learners who have been long
neglected like policemen or traders will somehow benefit.
(G7 representative)
The above excerpts show the TCs’ perception of diverse English
learners in Vietnam, including not only students at school but also
learners such as employers, officers, taxi drivers, and traders. This
means that teacher education programmes at university that focus only
on training preservice teachers to become English teachers at formal
institutions may be insufficient.
To embrace diverse learners, five interviewees suggested that needs
analysis should be embedded in teacher education programmes, espe-
cially in courses of language teaching methodologies:
Needs analysis needs to be done for teacher preparation for English
and other foreign languages. This step will orient both educators and
preservice teachers towards curriculum and practice. For example, pre-
service teachers need to know their learners and what they learn Eng-
lish for, so they will be able to develop appropriate knowledge and
practice.
(G6 representative)
424 TESOL QUARTERLY

Needs analysis is a crucial step in curriculum design and can facili-
tate further development of the syllabus, teaching materials, learning
activities, and tests (Cowling, 2007; Kusumoto, 2008). According to the
interviewees, needs analysis was important in the TESOL programme
because it resulted in teachers who were more responsive to learners’
needs. In other words, needs analysis enabled them to teach different
target groups of students with varied needs in learning English.
Community-based learning incorporated into university-based sec-

ond language teacher education. Together with changes in the
TESOL curriculum, all of the interviewees looked forward to innova-
tive practice. Among their proposed innovative practices, community-
based learning was most prominent. The interviewees reflected on
their groups’ field trip experiences, stating the benefits of this model
of learning to preservice teachers. They also contrasted this practice of
teacher learning with what was being taught to preservice teachers in
CU and other institutions:
What we were taught at university was very general and irrelevant to
reality. I think students [TCs] should be involved in a specific commu-
nity like we did in our field trip so that they can develop their practice
based on the educational reality of community.
(G7 representative)
Part of their suggestion for community-based learning was pedagogi-
cal internship or teaching practicum in local communities rather than
in formal schools. Again, the TCs explicitly expressed their concern
that a very small number of graduates worked in schools, while the
majority taught adult learners from a variety of professional, social,
and economic backgrounds. Therefore, the interviewees, to varying
degrees, expected flexibility in the teaching practicum for prospective
preservice teachers:
Teaching practicum should be expanded to other groups of adult
learners. Those who choose to teach in schools will have a teaching
practicum there. Others who would teach adult learners like homestay
owners or hotel staff should have their own choice for practicum. I
mean working with their learners in a community.
(G4 representative)
The suggestion above has merit because of the importance of peda-
gogical internship explicitly stated in the national curriculum pre-
scribed by the Ministry of Education and Training. Likewise, research
studies also placed great weight on this component because it plays a
crucial role in the teacher-training process (Minchanowska & Hruzd-

Matushchyk, 2016; L. Nguyen, 2014). As part of the interviewees’ pro-
posed model of community-based learning, pedagogical internship
would be more effective when situated in communities.
DISCUSSION
Through community-based learning, the participants in this study
explored the varied desire for learning English in local communities.
In particular, our qualitative analysis of the participants’ work high-
lights nine specific groups of learners, who represented a range of
social, economic, and professional backgrounds. These learners were
of post-school ages, seeking to learn English for practical job-related
purposes. These characteristics were considered unfavourable for their
access to English in the formal schooling system. Significant are their
findings about learners grouped into lower socioeconomic classes,
making L2 teaching inclusive of various learning groups. This reflects
a rapid growth in the demand as well as marked sociopolitical and eco-
nomic incentives for learning English in Vietnam (Bui & Nguyen,
2016). By understanding learners and their diverse purposes of learn-
ing, the participants perceived the role of English education and their
role as prospective teachers for the goal of socioeconomic develop-
ment of local communities. In this way, the participants as preservice
teachers achieved the domain of knowledge of learners and learning
contexts in teacher education (Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2005).
The needs of learners in the communities explored during the field
trip were a foundation for the participants to develop their prospective
practice in accordance with local needs. That is, using the theoretical
ground of the TESOL programme in combination with their under-
standing of the learners, each group of TCs was able to translate theory
into practice as evident in what was specifically designed for their cho-
sen learners. In general, learners would be taught in informal, friendly,
and communication-oriented ways with materials developed from both
local and global sources. This proposed practice represented commu-
nity-based pedagogies, which include curricula and practices built from
teachers’ knowledge and appreciation of learners and local communi-
ties (Sharkey, 2012; Sharkey et al., 2016; Zeichner et al., 2015). Accord-
ing to Darling-Hammond and Bransford (2005), the second and third
domains of the knowledge base were satisfied, that is, knowledge of
teaching and knowledge of curriculum and subject matter. Above all,
the pedagogical practices that the TCs developed reflected locally
responsive language teaching, which has been advocated in the post-
method era (Kumaravadivelu, 2006). From the perspective of located
SLTE, the participants were deemed “users and creators of legitimate
426 TESOL QUARTERLY

form of knowledge who make decisions about how best to teach their
L2 students within complex socially, culturally, and historically situated
contexts” (Johnson, 2009b, pp. 20–21).
It is undeniable that the field trips gave the participants the chance to
enrich their understanding of English teaching in local communities,
which was more varied and authentic than purely university-based
knowledge. The participants capitalised on this source of knowledge and
experiences, making a contribution to transforming their university-
based TESOL education. In particular, they critically examined the TESOL
curriculum in their institution and then suggested a number of innova-
tions. Of note is their proposal for the inclusion of diverse learners and
local needs in the TESOL curriculum, inherent in substantial changes
in both theory and practice. As a result, preservice teachers would be
able to teach a wide range of learners rather than only formal learners
in school. In this way, preservice teachers of SLTE would have a greater
understanding of the learners, of the national job market, of how to go
about matching means with ends, and of how to apply the principles of
learning flexibility to local contexts (Bui & Nguyen, 2016; C. D. Nguyen,
2016). This direction is particularly significant to the context of SLTE in
Vietnam today because the needs for learning English and other foreign
languages are not merely situated in formal schools. By using their com-
munity learning experiences to inform the transformation of university-
based SLTE, the participants expected a prospective generation of L2
teachers as legitimate creators of knowledge appropriate to their own
sociocultural context (Johnson, 2009b; Murrell, 2001).
The TCs’ learning to teach, although in a short period, was congru-
ent with the approach to located SLTE proposed by Johnson (2009a);
that is, the construction of pedagogical knowledge and practice was
grounded in the social, cultural, political, and historical contexts in
which both the teachers and the learners were situated (Hayes, 2009;
Hu, 2005; Liu & Xu, 2011; Tsui, 2007; Xu & Connelly, 2009). The
findings of the current study, although confirming the locally respon-
sive pedagogies constructed for learners and the community as in
past studies, highlighted the necessity of attending to a diversity of
local learners. Of note is the connection between individual learners’
needs and the socioeconomic development of the local community.
Thus, the curriculum and practice of SLTE need to accommodate this
diversity of learners and learning purposes.
Based on the findings, we substantiated the concept of located
SLTE, which basically posits that L2 teachers are encouraged to
develop practice appropriate to learner characteristics, learning cul-
ture, and educational discourses of local contexts (Johnson, 2009a).
This study elaborated the concept of located SLTE by highlighting a
diverse population of L2 learners and foregrounding community

Local communi es
Diverse learners
Mul ple purposes
Located SLTE
Locally responsive knowledge & prac ce

Materials University-based programmes
Curriculum Curriculum
Pedagogies Pedagogies
Figure 1 Proposed model of located second language teacher education. [Colour figure can
be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
learning as an efficient strategy or approach to teacher learning. As in

Figure 1, located SLTE is placed in the centre, surrounded by three
components: local communities, locally responsive knowledge and
practice, and university-based programmes. First, teachers need to be
engaged in local communities, exploring various issues such as learn-
ing purposes and learners’ characteristics situated in social, cultural,
and economic contexts. Teachers’ understanding of learners and local
communities will result in their locally responsive knowledge and
practice of L2 teaching, including curricula, materials, and
pedagogical practices. In this model of located SLTE, university-based
programmes enhance teachers’ locally responsive knowledge and
practice. In this inextricable relationship, the latter helps to inform
and transform the former. This model of located SLTE would
connect L2 teaching and L2 teacher preparation to other missions
pertinent to socioeconomic development and the labour market
rather than serving only formal schooling. This direction would be
deemed an innovation in teacher education for L2, especially English
in Vietnam and similar countries where there is a great demand for
competence in English and foreign languages for socioeconomic
development.
CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

This study explored how a TESOL programme based on located L2
teacher education in a Vietnamese university helped preservice
428 TESOL QUARTERLY

teachers cater to the diverse needs of English learners in local commu-
nities. Through community engagement, the participants explored a
variety of learners who wished to learn English for personal and occu-
pational purposes in connection with local socioeconomic develop-
ment. Based on their discovery of diverse learners, the participants
proposed curricula and practices appropriate to learners and local
needs. Experiences and knowledge gained during their engagement in
communities were used for informing and transforming university-
based SLTE.
Our selective qualitative analysis of the participants’ work and inter-
views conducted with them provide evidence that learning from a com-
munity-based experience can make a contribution to the
transformative trend in teacher education (Cochran-Smith et al., 2016;
Payne & Zeichner, 2017). The participants learned through interaction
with the community in a way that could not have been simulated in a
teacher education classroom. Therefore, we suggest that SLTE should
embrace community-based learning in combination with university-
based practice. For example, part of SLTE programmes may include
field trips and pedagogical internships in local communities, as the
participants in this study suggested.
The research findings highlight the efficiency of a community-based
approach to teacher learning, thereby holding significance for teacher
education in Vietnam. On the grounds of the participants’ perspec-
tives on university-based teacher education in relation to their commu-
nity-based learning, a number of strategies are recommended for
reforming SLTE in Vietnam. Given a marked demand for English
competence from various groups of learners, there is a need for diver-
sity of practical experience for EFL teachers and for understanding
learner diversity. In addition, preservice teachers need to use various
methods as resources for problem solving rather than a bundle of
fixed techniques. For example, SLTE programmes should engage
prospective teachers in small inquiry projects using community assets
as the preservice teachers in this study identified in their field assign-
ments. In this way, prospective teachers would capitalise on social and
cultural assets of communities for developing knowledge and practice.
These implications also have the potential to inform innovation in tea-
cher education in other teaching subjects in Vietnam because teacher
education is criticised for having been deeply grounded in transmis-
sion models (C. D. Nguyen, 2017a, 2017b).
Another practical implication drawn from this study lies in the rela-
tionship between SLTE and local labour markets in Vietnam (Star &
Hammer, 2008; L. H. N. Tran, 2017). Whereas teacher graduates in
Vietnam find it difficult or even impossible to find a position in
schools, there is a great educational demand from learners who are not

involved in the formal schooling system. Against this backdrop, SLTE
should aim at preparing teachers to meet the community needs for
learning foreign languages, especially English. In this regard, SLTE dif-
fers from teacher preparation for other disciplines. Teachers in other
disciplines are prepared to teach students in schools, but L2 teachers
have a wide range of options. Given the great need for foreign lan-
guage competence for socioeconomic development in Vietnam and
other Asia-Pacific countries today (Bui & Nguyen, 2016), SLTE should
expand its aims to preparing teachers for this purpose. Preservice
TESOL teachers in Vietnam need to be aware of socioeconomic goals
at national and local levels. Similarly, this way of preparing teachers
should be advocated in other regions where there is an increasing
demand for English competence. Therefore, together with the mission
of preparing teachers for formal schools, SLTE as an integral part of
higher education would move towards connecting with employability in
the labour market (L. H. N. Tran, 2017). Last but not least, the primary
investigator in this study showed initiative in enacting small inquiry pro-
jects that had a great impact on preservice teachers’ beliefs as well as
on the TESOL programme in his institution. As in the research find-
ings, similar inquiry projects should be encouraged in teacher educa-
tion not only for L2 but also for other disciplines. In this way,
preservice teachers would be able to actively develop knowledge and
practice by themselves rather than being passively trained by educators.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank the teacher candidates who participated in the study. Sin-
cere thanks go to Dr. David Crabbe, who gave constructive feedback on our arti-
cle. We would also like to extend our thanks to the anonymous referees and the
editors for their critical reviews that greatly improved the manuscript.
THE AUTHORS
Chinh Duc Nguyen is a lecturer of language education in the College of Foreign

Language Studies at the University of Danang, in Vietnam, earning his MA in
TESOL from the University of Queensland and his PhD in education from Mon-
ash University, in Australia. His scholarly interests include second language tea-
cher education, identity in language teaching, sociocultural issues in language
education, and social justice in education.
Tu Cam Thi Dang is a lecturer at the University of Foreign Languages, in Hue,

Vietnam. She earned her BA in English language teaching at Hue University and
her MA in applied linguistics at Victoria University of Wellington, in New
Zealand. Her research interests include teaching methodology and linguistics.
430 TESOL QUARTERLY

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APPENDIX A
TEACHER EDUCATION FRAMEWORK CURRICULA
AT VIETNAM’S UNIVERSITIES
Time amount
Contents (credits)
Minimum background educational knowledge (excluding 80
Physical education and Military education)
Minimum professional educational knowledge 130
With the minimum amount as follows:
• Basic knowledge of specialized major 07
• Knowledge of specialized major 53
• Supplementary knowledge
• Pedagogical internship 10
• Teaching practice, professional practice 10
• Thesis (or final exams) 10
Source: Minister of Education and Training of Vietnam (2010)
APPENDIX B
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Tell me about your group’s experiences of the field trip?

2. Tell me some major findings of your group:
• Which group of learners did you choose?
• What were their reasons for learning?
• What practices did your group propose for this group of
learners (syllabus, materials and teaching methods)?
434 TESOL QUARTERLY

3. How does the knowledge about the learners your group devel-
oped through community engagement differ from what you
were taught in your TESOL programme at university?
4. From your experience of community-based learning, what do
you think of/how do you evaluate your TESOL programme at
university?
5. What should be done to reform the TESOL programme at Cen-
tral University?
6. Do you think the TESOL programme should be changed to
cater to diverse learners such as those your group chose for the
field trip? In what way?
7. How do the experience and knowledge gained in communities
benefit your teaching?

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Second Language Teacher Education in

Response to Local Needs: Preservice

Second language teacher education (SLTE) has changed its focus

I n line with the sociocultural turn in education in general, second

404 TESOL QUARTERLY Vol. 54, No. 2, June 2020

LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES 405

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Located Second Language Teacher Education

LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES 407

408 TESOL QUARTERLY

LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES 409

410 TESOL QUARTERLY

LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES 411

412 TESOL QUARTERLY

LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES 413

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LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES 415

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Reasons for learning English. Learners sought to learn English for

LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES 417

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Although street vendors do not have a highly professional status, they

LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES 419

Pedagogical Practices Drawn From the Community-Based

Communication as the core of the syllabus. Each group of TCs

Syllabus/learning content Materials Approaches to teaching

Materials and resources tailored to local learners. The resources

LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES 421

Locally responsive approaches to teaching. Moving to the question

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Community-Based Learning Experience as a Contribution to

Drawing on their field experiences, the TCs put forward suggestions

LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES 423

If the TESOL programme includes a variety of groups of learners, stu-

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Community-based learning incorporated into university-based sec-

LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES 425

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LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES 427

Locally responsive knowledge & prac ce

learning as an efficient strategy or approach to teacher learning. As in

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

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LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES 429

Chinh Duc Nguyen is a lecturer of language education in the College of Foreign

Tu Cam Thi Dang is a lecturer at the University of Foreign Languages, in Hue,

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LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES 431

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LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES 433

Source: Minister of Education and Training of Vietnam (2010)

1. Tell me about your group’s experiences of the field trip?

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LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES 435

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