felte quarterly issue 2
TRANSCRIPT
FFFFELTE QUARTERLY
☼ Issue 2 ☼ Spring 2012
Faculty of English Language Teacher Education
University of Languages and International Studies, VNU
For internal circulation only
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☼ Issue 2 ☼ Spring 2012
Felte Felte Felte Felte Quarterlyuarterlyuarterlyuarterly
☼ Issue 2 ☼ Spring 2012
Faculty of English Language Teacher Education
University of Languages and International Studies, VNU
For internal circulation only
Editors Mr. Ngô Xuân Minh (Division II)
Ms. Trần Hoài Giang (Division II)
Ms. Hoàng Hồng Trang (Division III)
Layout Editor Ms. Trần Hoài Giang (Division II)
Editorial Advisory Board Ms. Nguyễn Thu Lệ Hằng, FELTE Dean
Ms. Nguyễn Ngọc Quỳnh, FELTE Vice Dean
Ms. Vũ Mai Trang, FELTE Vice Dean
Mr. Khoa Anh Việt, FELTE Vice Dean
Photo Credit Front cover photo taken by Spoii (2009). Retrieved from:
http://spoii.deviantart.com/gallery/
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☼ Issue 2 ☼ Spring 2012
Table of ContentsTable of ContentsTable of ContentsTable of Contents
Editors’ Notes ................................................................................................. 4 FELTE Rhythm
Curricula revision and course development projects Nguyen Thu Le Hang.....................................................................................5 AUN at FELTE Nguyen Thanh Thuy & Phan Ngoc Quynh Anh ............................................. 6 Workshop on teaching reading Vu Thi Kim Chi ............................................................................................... 7 FELTE Library Do Thi Minh Ngoc .......................................................................................... 8
Been there done that Vu Mai Trang ................................................................................................. 10
FELTE Faces Mr. Vu Hai Ha, an inspiring scholar Nguyen Thi Chi .............................................................................................. 12
Feature Article Developing socio-cultural competence in the context of English as a global
language: Implications for English classrooms in Vietnam
Nguyen Thi Thuy Minh ..................................................................................16
Review Mckay, S.L. (2002). Teaching English as an international language:
Rethinking goals and approaches. New York: Oxford University Press.
Thai Ha Lam Thuy .........................................................................................23
Teaching in Focus Mentoring program at Division of English Skills 1 – the pathway to become
a professional learning community.
Nguyen Thi Thu Hang & Can Thi Chang Duyen............................................26
Call for Contribution .................................................................................... 32
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☼ Issue 2 ☼ Summer 2011
EditorsEditorsEditorsEditors’ Notes Notes Notes Notes
Spring is unarguably the most celebrated season in Vietnam, and to match the
festive atmosphere of the season, this issue of FELTE QUARTERLY has been attired in the rosy
hue of peach blossoms, the symbolic flower of spring in Northern Vietnam. The sight of peach
blossoms is also reminiscent of the time for Vietnamese people to look back on the previous
year and look forward to the brand new one.
Hence, the journal starts with FELTE Rhythm, a quick review of some remarkable events
occurring in the past semester in the faculty, including the Curricula revision and Course
development project, the AUN project and the establishment of the faculty library as well as a
photo stream of other recent activities. In this season of growth, the journal enjoys the birth of
“Been there done that” – a new column hosted by Ms Vu Mai Trang – which gives room for
faculty members’ brief stories about their mind-opening trips. In the third column (FELTE
Faces), F.Q. proudly presents a young, yet exemplar figure of the new generation, Mr. Vu Hai
Ha – a Ph.D. candidate at Monash University. Also in this issue, F.Q. is honored to introduce a
research report by Dr. Nguyen Thi Thuy Minh, who despite her physical absence is still present
in professional discussions and admired for her contribution to the FELTE family. In the Review
column, Ms. Thai Ha Lam Thuy provides a succinct but informative critique of a notable TESOL
publication from Oxford University Press. The issue ends with a report on the mentoring
program at School of English I, which will hopefully act as food for thought for other schools of
the faculty in their process of mentoring new staff. As usual, all readers should not miss the
Call for Papers to keep themselves informed of ways to join the vibrant community of F.Q.
writers and editors.
To conclude this special issue, the Editorial Board would like to offer their best wishes to
all FELTE staff members and their families on the occasion of the new year. Hope the year of
the Dragon will be the opportune time for all to unleash their potential and ascend to the new
heights in all aspects of life.
F.Q. Editorial BoardF.Q. Editorial BoardF.Q. Editorial BoardF.Q. Editorial Board
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FELTE Rhythm
☼ Issue 2 ☼ Spring 2012
CURRICULA REVISION AND COURSE DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS Nguyen Thu Le Hang
Following the success of the National English
Teacher Education Curriculum (NETEC) project led by
Dr. Diana Dudzik and the course development
project guided by Assoc. Prof. Martha Bigelow in the
first half of 2011, the professional team of FELTE had
several opportunities to get involved in 2 major
projects in the second half of the year.
The 1st one is the revision of the curricula
towards uniformity among ULIS faculties in terms of
the total number of credits and the total number of
subjects per curriculum. FELTE Dean joined with
other Deans of the University in a series of
workshops and working sessions throughout the
Summer, with the facilitation of VPAA and the
Director of the Training Affairs Department, followed
by consultation sessions among the key staff of
FELTE. Two curricula for mainstream and two
curricula for the Fast-track- one set for English
teacher education, another for the training of
interpreter/translator and administration officer-
were finalised, with 8 new English proficiency
subjects and 14 new subjects in the professional
knowledge domain.
The 2nd major project is the Multiple-stream
Course Development. There are 3 streams: the
Contextual subjects, the Proficiency subjects, and the
Other subjects in the Professional Knowledge Domain
(M5). The 1st stream is called the Meandering as the
course developers will have time to go through the
process until teaching handouts are produced and
papers relating to their work presented at
international conferences and get published. The
Faculty of LCESP is in charge of this 1st stream
subjects under the guidance of Dr. Diana Dudzik.
FELTE has 1 subject- Issues in Teaching English as an
International Languages- in this group. The 2nd
stream is named the Rapids as the course developers
had only 2 intensive weeks coached by Assoc. Prof.
Martha Bigelow. During these two weeks of
December, they worked on 8 Proficiency subjects. All
the Rapids teams have kept working on their draft
syllabi and shared the versions on Google Docs. The
3rd stream is called the Rivulet as the course
developers had few workshops facilitated by Dr.
Dudzik and the deliverables for this subject group
are limited to Course Overview, Objectives,
Description and Assessment. By 15 January 2012,
FELTE successfully completed the huge work load
and managed to submit to the University all the
required syllabus summaries for the new subjects.
We still have a long way ahead, as we have only
passed the starting point. Highlights of the Course
Development Project, yet, motivate us all as we “are
making history”, creating such transformational
changes as designing courses following the Backward
Design, or restructuring the Proficiency courses
condensed to 4 semesters only while adopting the
challenging approach- the Integrated, Theme-based
and Genre-based Approach.
In the coming months of the first half of 2012,
a larger number of team leaders and members will
involve themselves in various tasks including the
survey among employers, alumni and current
students about the curricula and program standards,
the comparative analysis of similar English Teacher
Education and English language programs in the
world and in the region, and above all, the course
development as planned in our roadmap.
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FELTE Rhythm
☼ Issue 2 ☼ Spring 2012
AUN at FELTE Nguyen Thanh Thuy & Phan Ngoc Quynh Anh
WHAT IS AUNWHAT IS AUNWHAT IS AUNWHAT IS AUN----QA?QA?QA?QA?
ASEAN University Network-Quality
Assurance (AUN-QA) System was originated by
Dr. Vanchai Sirichana, the first chairman of the
AUN Board of trustees (AUN-BOT) in 1998 in
order to reach and maintain the high standard
education for not only a particular country but
also for ASEAN as a whole. Since then, AUN-QA
has been continuously put into practice,
developed and thrived to become a strong QA
system, gaining the international recognition.
QA should be an instrument for mutual
recognition to and respect of differences among
individual institutions including their diversified
cultural and basic resources. The Project was
welcomed by the 4th Meeting of the AUN-BOT in
Myanmar in 1998 and became an important
priority of the AUN, particularly in the dimensions
of teaching, research and overall academic
management.
AUN IN VIETNAM AUN IN VIETNAM AUN IN VIETNAM AUN IN VIETNAM
In Vietnam, AUN-QA has been carried out
with various activities and Vietnam National
University, Hanoi has officially been one member
of AUN Board of trustees since 1995.
ULIS – VNU is currently working on Fast-
track program evaluation. One of the objectives
of this program is to look back on the
achievements of Fast-track program education
during the past years as well as to define existing
problems that need to be solved in order to build
up the orientation for development in the coming
years. On the other hand, thanks to the AUN-QA
project, not only ULIS teachers’ self-evaluation
competence will improve but they also get more
familiar with international standards and criteria.
Besides teachers’ participation in the project,
students’ contributions are of great importance
to the success of the project.
13/9/2011, Professor Nguyen Hoa, ULIS
rector, signed the decision to establish the self-
assessment board of the Honor program of
English teacher education according to the AUN-
QA, including:
• Professor Nguyen Hoa, President – Chairman
• Dr. Do Tuan Minh - Vice President – Vice
chairman
• Ms. Nguyen Thu Le Hang, M.A. - Dean of FELTE
– Vice chairman
• Ms. Vu Tuong Vi, M.A. – Head of Fast Track
Program – Secretary
• Dr. Lưu Bá Minh, Associate Prof – Standing
member
• Dr. Ha Le Kim Anh, Head of Academic affair -
Member
• Mr. Nguyen Xuan Chu, M.A. – Head of
personnel office - Member
• Dr. Lam Quang Dong, Head of Faculty of
English - Member
The assessment of the Fast Track Program
based on AUN including 15 criteria and 68 sub-
criteria started from September to November,
2011. During this time, lecturers of FELTE were
divided into different specifically-assigned
groups namely Writing group, Editor Group and
Supporting Groups. Supporting groups are
different groups of lecturers taking charge of
finding evidences for AUN 15 criteria.
By the end of November, Writing group will
have finished the first draft of the AUN self-
assessment report based on the evidences found
by Supporting groups.
As planned, at the beginning of December,
2011, the report and the self-assessment
checklist will be submitted to the Quality
Assurance Board of VNU. On January 2012, ULIS
will welcome the experts of AUN coming to ULIS
to evaluate the quality of Fast Track Program for
ELT students.
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FELTE News
☼ Issue 2 ☼ Spring 2012
Workshop on Teaching Reading by Ms. Susan Lucasse Vu Thi Kim Chi
The workshop on Teaching Reading by Ms.
Susan Lucasse on August 30th, 2011 was an eye-
opener to many novice teachers who were
fumbling for an effective and inspiring way to
teach reading skill. New teachers with little
experience of teaching at college learnt a lot not
only from Ms. Lucasse’s presentation, but also
from the way she organized activities and
modeled an effective reading lesson. By putting
the audience in the shoes of learners, she actually
made us consider what a student looked forward
to and needed to acquire after some time
reading. She also directed our attention to
reading as a daily activity that we did, both in
Vietnamese and English, very often. Reading does
not need to be academic and serious all the time.
Therefore, we can help students improve their
reading ability with interesting authentic tasks
and texts which seem to be part of their everyday
life. The section that seemed to be the most
attractive was the partial conduct of a sample
integrated reading lesson designed by Dr. Melissa
Smith. In the role of students, we gradually went
through the three phases of the lesson with
relevant and exciting activities which required us
to read both intensively and extensively. This
sample lesson illustrated really well the theory of
integrating intensive and extensive reading tasks
in L2 classroom and gave me a lot of ideas for my
teaching. The post activities were very creative
but quite challenging, as they asked students to
actually get engaged in the story by acting the
roles of the characters. Although it might be
difficult for such activities to be included in a real
reading lesson under our circumstances, they
provided the hints for us to design reading tasks
in which students are encouraged and challenged
at the same time to use the knowledge they just
learn in the lesson for certain purposes.
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FELTE Rhythm
☼ Issue 2 ☼ Spring 2012
FELTE Library
Do Thi Minh Ngoc
It’s finally here after months of planning!
FELTE Library is now officially open to the mass
community of FELTE Teachers on every Tuesday and
Thursday morning, starting from November, 2011.
“Headquartered” in Room 206, B2 Building on
the campus of the University of Languages and
International Studies (HULIS), the library offers
ideally tranquil and inspiring work space, welcoming
atmosphere, and easy and unrestricted access to an
extensive collection of university course-books,
reference materials and CDs. The library, currently
housing nearly 170 items in high demands,
deserves to be called the first resource for meeting
all FELTE Teachers’ information needs. The Faculty
Managerial Board and the library staff are
endeavoring for the commitment to turn the library
into the key agent in enabling FELTE Teachers to
prosper in the information society and supporting
any individual who is undertaking professional self-
development.
Just spare your time, come along and join with
us. The library staff – all of whom are young and
energetic teachers of the Faculty, are always on
hand to help you!
FELTE Library is open from 9 a.m to 11 a.m on every Tuesday and Thursday!FELTE Library is open from 9 a.m to 11 a.m on every Tuesday and Thursday!FELTE Library is open from 9 a.m to 11 a.m on every Tuesday and Thursday!FELTE Library is open from 9 a.m to 11 a.m on every Tuesday and Thursday!
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FELTE Rhythm
☼ Issue 2 ☼ Spring 2012
L2 VocabularyL2 VocabularyL2 VocabularyL2 Vocabulary knowledge knowledge knowledge knowledge
as a twas a twas a twas a twoooo----sided coinsided coinsided coinsided coin 18 Oct 2011
Dr Michael HarringtonDr Michael HarringtonDr Michael HarringtonDr Michael Harrington,
School of Languages and Comparative
Cultural Studies, the University of
Queensland, Australia
Division 2 Inset TrainingDivision 2 Inset TrainingDivision 2 Inset TrainingDivision 2 Inset Training 16 Nov 2011
ULIS StarSULIS StarSULIS StarSULIS StarS ���� 16 Nov 2011
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BEEN THERE DONE THAT
☼ Issue 2 ☼ Spring 2012
Hosted by Vu Mai TrangHosted by Vu Mai TrangHosted by Vu Mai TrangHosted by Vu Mai Trang
Having recently taken a course? Gone on a trip? Done something interesting? Met new
people? In this space of each issue of FELTE Quarterly we post a question for you to
share your experience and to learn about, and from, our colleagues.
In this issue let’s meet four FELTE faculty members who have attended conferences in
the last couple of months to find out what had well impressed them.
Ms Hieu Thuy (ELT)Ms Hieu Thuy (ELT)Ms Hieu Thuy (ELT)Ms Hieu Thuy (ELT)
Voices in ELT International Conference, Thamasat University, Thailand, June 2011.
The first impression that the Conference had on me was its
organization. Though that was the first time TU held such an
International conference in ELT, they had decided to make it
big. The venue was placed in a five-star hotel, and the
reception dinner was extremely Thai. I was also delighted by
the helpfulness, English proficiency level, and
professionalism of their voluntary students. They were all
wearing their smart uniform - the guys in suits with ties and
girls in shirts and skirts. There were just about 15 of them
but whenever the guests needed help, they could manage
right away. For example, on discovering that my name was
misspelt on the Certificate of Participation, I immediately
sought for help and a nice girl appeared just in time to
direct me to the responsible person.
Ms Mai Trang (ELTMs Mai Trang (ELTMs Mai Trang (ELTMs Mai Trang (ELT))))
New Directions, British Council Assessment and Evaluation Symposium, Kuala Lumpur,
July 2011.
One of the things I most remember from the trip was the story
of one Malaysian colleague. Every single day of the Symposium
she came into the conference hall with a super tiny,
sometimes crying, baby in her arms. Struck by an empathy
being a working mother myself, I talked to her and found out
to my amazement that her baby is just 3 weeks old! I was
further taken aback when one of her friends joined our
conversation and almost proudly added that this is the
seventh child of hers! The efforts of this woman to make this
far must be enormous, considering what I learned from the
participants list that most people who came to this
Symposium are those of significance, including noted scholars
and policy makers. Thinking of her, however, I can’t help
feeling lucky, in some way, imagining the boundaries she
must have tried hard to go beyond, successfully or not.
Women seen on KL streets, many in black veils
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BEEN THERE DONE THAT
☼ Issue 2 ☼ Spring 2012
Ms ThMs ThMs ThMs Thơm Thơơm Thơơm Thơơm Thơm (English 1m (English 1m (English 1m (English 1))))
Discourse, Knowledge and Culture Symposium, University of Danang, University of Hue
and University of English and International Studies (ULIS-VNU), Danang, December
2011.
Since it was the very first time I joined a conference in
this city, I was filled with lots of emotions: the curiosity
to discover Danang as a place of interest, the honour to
meet and learn from many researchers in the field, and
the anxiety to prepare for my presentation on Discourse.
However, what most impressed me at the Symposium
was the presentation by the guest speaker, Professor Ly
Toan Thang (Institute of Dictionaries and Encyclopedia)
focusing on Discourse Analysis from Cognitive
perspective. The presentation attracted me in the way
that the scholar was serious to investigate a seemingly
minor example: “đít chai/the bottom of the bottle” in a
popular Vietnamese saying: “mắt kính dày như đít chai”.
To my surprise, the professor did a thorough research in
various languages in different parts of the world, and traced back to our longstanding history and culture
to provide rather impressive explanations and conclusions. He strongly believed that the example might
have rooted from the traditional and habitual sitting habit of the Vietnamese, “ngắi bắt”. Hardly words
can express my thirst for every single theory proposed and my satisfaction to listen to the rational
explanations. Most importantly, I have learnt much from his commitment in doing scientific research,
which greatly motivates young learners like me in the research career. I was fortunate enough to have a
good time in Danang and join the interesting Symposium.
Ms QuMs QuMs QuMs Quỳnh Lỳnh Lỳnh Lỳnh Lê (English 1)ê (English 1)ê (English 1)ê (English 1)
International Conference on Language
and Communication, ICLC 2011,
Bangkok, December 2011.
I was most impressed by the hospitality and
excellent organisation offered by the host at the
Conference. On arriving at the site, instead of
seeing young beautiful volunteering girls, as we
usually do domestically, I caught the sight of
many not-so-young ladies and gentlemen here
and there giving help in the plenary session room
and always with a friendly smile on their faces. During the welcoming party that afternoon, we learned
that they were holding key positions in their organisations and all were with ..Ph.D! They did their best to
comfort the participants, from the "tiny" things - like making a walking tour to get our feedback on lunch
food- to "bigger" ones, like getting us the proceedings released years ago! Not until the last day did I
find out that they had just recovered from the severe floodings ever just weeks before!
Picture taken in My Son
Picture taken with Teun and Dijk
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FFEELLTTEE FFaacceess
☼ Issue 2 ☼ Spring 2012
‘The teacher always needs to learn,
Mr. Vu Hai Ha, an inspiring scholar FELTE has a tradition where the teachers, generation by
generation, have made non-stop endeavor to pursue their
desire of self-fulfillment in learning and teaching. Among
those who have been successful in reaching out to the world
education is an arguably outstanding young figure, Mr. Vu
Hai Ha, an enthusiastic, inquisitive, and inspiring teacher -
researcher. He is pursuing a PhD degree in Education at
Monash University, Australia in his 20s.
Stimulated by a desire for the engagement and
enhancement of young-generation teachers currently
working in FELTE in their teaching and researching career, I
have invited teacher-cum-postgraduate-student Ha to share
his philosophy and experience in his developmental route.
• Nguyen Thi Chi (C): Hello, my teacher. Thank
you for joining in this second issue of FELTE
Quarterly. How are you there?
• HH: Hello Chi. Everything is fine. How about
you and your work?
• C: Everything seems to go in a right way for
me. And now, shall we talk a bit about you,
about your qualities? ☺
• HH: It’s my pleasure ☺
• C: If you have to choose three adjectives to
describe yourself, what will you choose?
• HH: Uh… ‘Dedicated’; that’s the first one. The
second one might be ‘hard-working’; and the
third one is ‘serious’. ☺
• C: So what do you mean by ‘dedicated’ and
‘serious’?
• HH: Well, I think it’s a kind of complementary
in the sense that when you show your
dedication to something, it doesn’t mean that
you are not serious. You shouldn’t take
‘serious’ in the negative sense. I think ‘serious’
means that when you are interested in
something, ; and that’s the most important
thing I think. And dedication, especially
teaching in Vietnam… you know when it comes
to teaching in Vietnam, there are a lot of
difficult conditions and parameters that I think
dedication will come first to good teachers;
and that’s what I am trying to do.
• C: Well, that seems the reason why you have
been so popular in our department as well as
in our university. Many teachers and students
have praised your endeavor and dedication in
both teaching and researching. So could you
please share with us your thoughts of these
broad areas?
• HH: Of course. I am always willing. ☺
• C: Thank you, teacher. As I know, teaching
philosophy is very important because it can
‘when it’s your job, especially concerned
quite a lot of people, you should give it
what you have,
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FFEELLTTEE FFaacceess
☼ Issue 2 ☼ Spring 2012
assist the enhancement of a teacher’s
performance, so I wonder what your
philosophy of teaching is.
• HH: Well, I think it’s very hard. I never collect
my philosophy of teaching. But I think the most
important principle underlying teaching is, you
know, being able to explain to students. I
mean that you should help your students
understand the matter as much as possible.
And another thing is that you inspire your
students. In the past I emphasized the first
one, the first principle, that is how to convey
my ideas to the students in the clearest way as
possible. But in recent years, I think that I am
shifting to the later principle, instead of, you
know, passing on the information to the
students, I try to inspire them; that is I give
them the tool, the inspiration, I inspire them,
and I encourage them to explore things in real
life. So, in brief, teaching means inspiration
and inspiring students.
• C: Yeap, I like the word ‘inspiring’. Honestly,
when I was a student, I was inspired a lot in
your reading lessons. They did not only
provide me with knowledge and skills but they
also proved me that teaching was an art,
particularly teaching reading. And I’d like to
ask you some more specific things related to
your reading lessons.
• HH: Ok!
• C: You know many students reckon reading
lessons are so dull, but those who attended
your lessons, as far as I know, all felt excited.
How did you keep students motivated with so-
called dull lessons?
• HH: Well… well. Normally, people classify
reading as receptive skills, and by receptive,
they give students kinds of reading in the
classroom, something prescribed by the
teacher on syllabus, and their tasks are simply
answering the questions. And sometimes the
questions are very closed-ended… I mean that
the task of students is doing exercises and the
task of the teacher is saying it’s right or wrong,
or skim and scan the text to take the cues, or
that’s sort of thing. And when I was a student
in CLC or Fast-track program, I found reading
was dull, was boring and kind of monotonous.
It’s like exam-coaching, I think. But when it
comes to the reality, I realize that there is
much more in reading than to answer the
questions. I read an article in real life, I realize
that at the end of the article there is no
question and no right or wrong, no multiple
choice questions, so reading is to relate what
you already know with what you are reading,
so that it can help you best with your purpose
as well as enrich your knowledge. That is the
main thing that I want to be realized in my
reading lesson, reading is not for answering
questions, but reading for life. So reading is
not just receptive, but reading is input and is a
source of inspiration. I want to use the word
‘inspiration’ again. It is again my philosophy of
teaching. Reading is inspiration to other skills
and also to life, to work, everything. I really
want my student to understand that reading is
very important, not for exam, but for real life
as well.
• C: How did you do to make your students
understand that reading is not doing the
exercises but the input for other skills?
• HH: It’s really hard because whether we like it
or not, examination and testing system in our
university is kind of standardized tests, so the
students don’t… It’s kind of paradox here, the
students don’t want to do exercises like IELTS
or TOEFL so much but when they are directed
towards reading for other purposes, they
complain that, you know, we need to be
coached for the exams. So that’s what I say
there is a paradox here. I think that the most
important thing here is to help students
understand the purposes of reading. For
example, with your class, at the beginning of
the semester, I talked about my intention of
critical reading, and I told you, I remember,
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FFEELLTTEE FFaacceess
☼ Issue 2 ☼ Spring 2012
• “It’s up to you. If you are willing, you will learn
a lot. If you are not willing, it is ok, because
you know, it’s kind of workload, not only for
you, students, but also for teacher. But if you
think it’s the opportunity to learn, we do
together”. I think that it is important for
teachers to help students to understand why
they are doing something in the first place.
Otherwise, it’s kind of imposing on the
students that they must do that. So it takes
time; and come back to your question: how, I
think, talking to students, motivating them and
helping them to see what kinds of problems,
and what the reading program does not
provide them, and then inspire them to do
something different. Finally, I think both
students and teacher need to involve in that.
• C: Humm… That will be kind of food for
thought for teachers, especially for me, a
‘new-comer’ in teaching career. And I
remember you once told us that innovation
was essential in teaching; it makes a teacher an
attracting and vivid textbook. Could you please
share with us how to be constantly innovative
in our teaching?
• HH: Well… I remember some people asked me
this question before, and I say first of all, it
comes from the nature of the teacher, being
creative. I think that not all teachers are
creative because for some of them, creative
means breaking the rules, the textbook. It is
kind of take risk and some don’t like to take
risk. So, first innovative comes from teachers,
and second it must come from students. Some
classes like to explore new things and we find
their motivation to learn, but there are classes
which don’t want to change at all. As for your
question about the techniques to be creative, I
think that first of all the teacher need to read a
lot because, you know, innovation should be
meaningful. For example, you remember the
warm-up games at your listening class? Of
course, you are talking about reading, but
when it comes to warm-up activity, I always
tried to make the connection between the
warm-up activities with the listening skills that
your class focused. So I think that meaningful
makes creative sustainable, and in order to do
that the teacher should read a lot. There are
many sources of reading, library, somewhere
else, and even workshops. I remember I learnt
a lot from the workshops when I was in my first
teaching year. I attended the workshop on
Critical Thinking by Ms. Phung Ha Thanh, and
it was very useful, it gave me a lot of
interesting ideas about how to improve my
classes. And that’s the first thing; the teacher
always needs to learn. And secondly, you
should think, put yourself in the students’
situation, you think of how students are gonna
do this, or think of what activities will work and
what you are going to do. We, teachers, always
need to encourage the students to give
feedback because creativeness, if it is not
appreciated by the students explicitly, and
sometimes students do not show whether they
enjoy the activities, the new things brought by
the teacher, we may feel demotivated; so I
think listening to the students is one way to
encourage you to be even more creative. I
shouldn’t forget to mention that I also learn
from the students themselves because
sometimes I ask students to be creative in
class and some students have really good
techniques or ideas. I may duplicate their ideas
or I may build up my ideas based on their
ideas. So in brief, in order to be constantly
creative, the teacher needs to learn all the
time, whenever you can, when you are a
teacher, when you are a student, when you are
a workshop attendant.
• C: So interesting: teachers need to learn at any
time, and even learn when talking to each
other in this way. ☺
• HH: ☺
‘teaching means inspiration and inspiring students,
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☼ Issue 2 ☼ Spring 2012
• C: And now I’d like to move on to another big
area in which you are also popular, that’s
research. Could you please share with us what
‘research’ means to you? And how come have
you been attracted to research?
• HH: For me, research is an opportunity to
learn… Research is an opportunity to sharpen
your skills. Many people think that research is
just reading and writing only but research
includes a lot of skills, for example, when you
go out to interview people, that is socialization,
communication skills, when you present your
idea to the public or to the panel, you sharpen
your presentation skills…And I realize lots of
skills I have today and I am confident with
come from my research experiences… The
most important thing that inspires me to do a
lot of research is that I could learn a lot from
them… Another thing is you have right attitude
to understanding of research. You don’t try it,
you know, kind of application for scholarship,
or prizes I think. Actually, in my situation I
didn’t even, you know, claim the prize when I
got the first, second prizes, and I was eligible
for extra points or marks in GPA but I didn’t
claim that, because I was satisfied with what I
got already. In brief, you take research as an
opportunity to learn and understand it,
especially student research. Probably that will
inspire you.
• C: I remember that your current thesis is about
Vietnamese 9X TESOL trainees’ Struggle of
Voice for their Language and Values. And what
inspires you to do such research?
• HH: Well, again I have to say that research
should come from your real life. Many people
think that I do research on 9X because they are
popular, modern, and they are probably of my
topic and that I am going to talk about the
international language or anything, but actually
it’s not. You know, the reason why I chose the
topic is that the more I taught them, the young
generation, the more I realize that I was bored,
and I lost my appetite, energy and my
•
enthusiasm for teaching. I didn’t know why
because, you know, dedication is still my merit,
my strength, my quality. I think the problem
might be my communication with the students.
So I really want to understand the younger
generation even more, so that in the future
when I come back to Vietnam, I love teaching
even more. So far I think that at least I
understand the younger generation much
more. I realize that in the past I had some
conflict with young generation because I didn’t
understand them enough. That’s why I decided
to work on their voice, their language, and
their values in classroom.
• C: I think not only you but many other teachers
can get benefit from your study. I long for
much more inspiring lessons of yours when
you come back… And the last question is ‘Do
you have any research plan in the coming
time?’
• HH: Of course, I am doing one, my PhD project.
I’m also writing a course book for critical
reading program. So you’ll find new ideas
about critical reading in this book rather than
handouts. Actually Ms. Yen and Ms. Ha in Fast-
track program are experimenting the program
right now. We are working closely as a team
although we are thousands of miles away.
That’s collaborative teaching and action
research in my view.
• C: Thank you very much for your energetic
sharing. I believe that FELTE teachers,
especially young teachers, as well as students
will soon find teaching and learning about
reading much more an interest and a challenge
than a bore. Also, we will probably be more
engaged in research ourselves as well as in
guiding our students to do research. On behalf
of FELTE teachers, I wish you notable success
in your PhD study. We hope to see you soon in
teaching.
• HH: Thank you. I also hope to see all of you
soon. Best wishes to my colleagues!
, Research is an opportunity to learn ‘
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Developing socioDeveloping socioDeveloping socioDeveloping socio----cultural competence in the context of English as a Global cultural competence in the context of English as a Global cultural competence in the context of English as a Global cultural competence in the context of English as a Global
Language: Implications for English classrooms in VietnamLanguage: Implications for English classrooms in VietnamLanguage: Implications for English classrooms in VietnamLanguage: Implications for English classrooms in Vietnam
Nguyen Thi Thuy Minh
National Institute of Education
In his report for the British Council entitled “English Next”, David Graddol (2006) points out that as
English becomes a global language, native-speaker (NS) norms are becoming less relevant. This is
because the global spread of the language would mean fewer interactions involving an NS. The fact that
an increasing number of interactions in English nowadays are taking place between people who use it as
an additional language can make the task of teaching cross-cultural communication skills more complex
than ever. Instead of introducing only NS socio-cultural norms, English teachers now need to help their
students to accommodate to a much more diverse range of cultural differences and perspectives
(Crawford 2006).
In this paper, I will discuss the challenges that the globalization of English has posed for teachers in
preparing ‘socio-culturally competent’ English language users, and draw implications for English
classrooms in Vietnam. I will firstly address the concept of ‘socio-cultural competence’ as a core
component of ‘communicative competence’ with reference to the context of English as a Global
Language (EGL). Drawing on this discussion, I will then argue that teaching English rules of speaking in
this new context should be informed by a World Englishes perspective rather than by NS norms as it was
previously assumed, and finally I will explicate the relevance of this proposition to English Language
Teaching (ELT) in Vietnam.
1. Socio-cultural competence in the context of EGL: A critique of the NS model
Socio-cultural competence is the knowledge that enables a speaker to express his/ her meanings and
intentions via speech acts (e.g. requests, invitations, disagreements and so on) appropriately within a
particular social and cultural context of communication. This knowledge necessarily involves both having
linguistic means for expressing speech acts and understanding the socio-cultural constraints on the use
of these means (Canale 1983). Socio-cultural competence is essential for effective communication and in
fact constitutes one of the core components of one’s communicative competence’ (see Canale and Swain
1980, Canale 1983). That is to say, a language user cannot be deemed ‘competent’ if he or she is unable
to, among other things, ‘do things with words’ properly in a given context of use of the given language.
Research into cross-cultural communication has repeatedly shown that performing speech acts in a
second language (L2) can be a challenging task for many L2 learners (see Kasper and Rose 2002).
Difficulties arise mostly due to the inherent differences that exist between their first language (L1) and
culture and the second language and culture. Very often, these differences have caused
miscommunication (Thomas 1983). The implication drawn from this body of research is language
pedagogy needs to allow L2 learners to explore the socio-cultural norms of the NS community and the
various ways they constrain the language use by this community (see Rose and Kasper 2001).
Indeed, this idea has tremendously impacted L2 classrooms in the past few decades. It has remained
widely accepted among teachers and researchers for years that L2 pedagogical practices can benefit
enormously from a description of NS models. For example, Cohen (1996: 412, cited in McKay 2002)
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explained how studies that compare NS speech act behavior with learners’ speech act behavior can
contribute to the teaching of L2 speech acts:
“Once descriptions of the speech acts are made available, the next task is to determine the
degree of control that learners have over those speech acts … Ideally, this information could then
be used to prepare a course of instruction that would fill in the gaps in language knowledge and
also give tips on strategies that might be useful for producing utterances. The role of the learners
is to notice similarities and differences between the way native speakers perform speech acts and
the way they do.”
McKay (2002) points out that what underlies this NS-based pedagogical model is the assumption that the
goal of L2 learning is to achieve the ‘NS competence’. According to this model, any variation from the NS
norms would be considered undesirable or even ‘defective’ (Crawford 2006, Foley 2007). For example,
Thomas (1983) describes two types of learners’ ‘failure’ when performing a speech act in the L2. “Socio-
pragmatic failure’ is evident when the learner either performs the given speech act where it is not
expected (e.g. asking a new acquaintance personal questions) or does not perform it where it is required
(e.g. thanking for a service). “Pragma-linguistic failure’ happens when the learner expresses the speech
act in a non-target-like manner (e.g. making an imperative request).
While the proposition that L2 pedagogy needs to set as its aim the development of learners’ socio-
cultural competence is plausible, the assumption that this competence should be based on an NS model
is not without criticisms (McKay 2002, 2003, Crawford 2006, Foley 2007). Kasper (1997) argued that for
adult L2 learners the goal of achieving a native-like competence is unfeasible since L2 is increasingly
difficult to acquire with age. Cook (2002: 333), for instance, indicated that “only a vanishing small
percentage of students ever come close to the ‘success’ of duplicating native attainment”.
What is more, it is unreasonable to assume that the goal of L2 learners is to achieve a native-like socio-
cultural competence. There is evidence to suggest that L2 learners do not always desire to adopt NS rules
of speaking because sometimes it happens that these rules conflict with their own system of cultural
beliefs and values (Hinkel 1996, Ellis 1994, Kasper 1997). Perhaps they only target at becoming
competent L2 users while maintaining their cultural identity (Ellis 1994, Siegal 1996). The total
convergence with the NS behavior by L2 speakers may also be viewed negatively by some NSs. For
example, the former might be perceived as “intrusive and inconsistent with the non-native speakers’
(NNS) role as outsider to the L2 community” (Kasper 1997: 12, abbreviation added). Therefore, some
divergence as a marker of non-membership could perhaps be more appreciated (Kasper, ibid.).
Another problem lies in the difficulty establishing what can count as ‘NS norms’ because as Kasper (ibid.)
argues, the NS community is certainly not a homogenous group. This is precisely the case of the English
language, where so many varieties exist. Kachru (1989), for example, divides the English speaking world
into three groups, which he terms the ‘inner’, the ‘outer’, and the ‘expanding’ circles (Figure 1). The
‘inner circle’ includes countries where English is spoken as the first/ native language (ENL) (e.g. the
United Kingdom, the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand), and which he refers to as ‘norm-
providing’ countries. The fact the NS of these English varieties do not necessarily share the same ‘norms’
would make the task of ‘following NS norms’, supposed it were desirable, rather daunting for English
learners, especially if they learn the language outside the territory of the ‘inner circle’. As Yano (2001:
120) puts it,
“As far as English is learned by immigrants in English-speaking societies such as Britain and the
United States, there does not seem to be any problem in learning the language in the socio-
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cultural framework of these societies. However, problems arise when English is learned as a
second (ESL) or foreign language (EFL) in societies where English is not used as the native
language, because English is no longer used in the Anglo-American socio-cultural framework
alone”(abbreviations added).
Indeed, NS norms seem less relevant in contexts where people do not need to interact with the NS (Yano
2001, Graddol 2006). People in the ‘outer circle’ such as Singapore, India, or the Philippines have their
own rules when using English to communicate within their society. These rules inform appropriate
language use for particular contexts, though not necessarily similar to those observed in the UK or the
USA (McKay 2002). In encounters where people come from all different countries, it also makes little
sense why they should adopt the socio-cultural norms of a particular English NS community to
communicate with one another (McKay 2002, 2003).
Figure 1: Kachru’s categorization of countries in which English is used (from Crystal 1997: 54)
Finally, the difficult is related to the term ‘NS’ itself. As Graddol (2006: 110) indicates, “Global English
has led to a crisis of terminology. The distinction between ‘native speaker’, ‘second-language speaker’,
and ‘foreign-language user’ have become blurred”. In other words, it has become more problematic than
ever to define ‘an NS’ in the new context. One reason is varieties of English in the ‘outer circle’ have
become so well established that many ESL speakers would feel they are NSs of English and do have NS
intuition (Yano 2001). In fact, Kachru himself (1999) has acknowledged the increasing importance of the
‘outer circle’, proposing that the English speakers from this circle should now be better described as
‘functional’ NSs rather than L2 speakers. Another reason for Graddol’s claim is the boundary between the
‘outer circle’ (ESL) and ‘expanding circle’ (EFL) is also becoming less clear since the EFL learners in some
countries are becoming more like second language users (Graddol 2006). For example, many European
countries such as Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland have been
found in transition from an EFL context to an ESL context (Graddol 1997, cited in McKay 2002, Yano
2001). English is now being used daily in various areas of life such as media, business, professional
discourse, higher education and so on in these countries. Spreading at the present rate, English language
use is anticipated to be found in similar transition in other continents very soon (Yano 2001). Given all
these changes, Graddol (2006) argues that it makes little sense to hold on to the ‘traditional’ distinction
between NSs and NNSs, and in a globalized world it would be more helpful to distinguish English
speakers according to their proficiency levels rather than their ‘native’ status.
Also, what can be threatening to many L2 speakers is the fact that the term “NS’ seems to emphasize the
‘superior authority’ of the NS over the latter. As Graddol (2006: 83) points out,
Inner Circle (ENL)
Outer Circle (ESL)
Expanding Circle (EFL)
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“the target language is always someone else’s mother tongue. The learner is constructed as a
linguist tourist – allowed to visit, but without rights of residence and required always to respect
the superior authority of native speakers.”
As argued earlier, the assumption of ‘NS superior authority’ is hard to justify today. This is because with
the vast and fast growing number of English L2 speakers, far surpassing the so-called ‘NS communities’,
the ownership of the language seems to be shifting away from the latter (Yano 2001). There is an
increasing consensus that English should no longer be viewed as a possession of the Anglo-Saxon
community, but should be considered to belong to anyone who uses it (Yano 2001, McKay 2002, 2003,
Foley 2006, Graddol 2006). Graddol (ibid.) even points out that the future of the English language does
not depend on the Anglo-Saxon countries but in fact is determined by the people of Asia since this
continent will boast the largest number of English language users in the 50 years or so to come.
In short, as McKay (2003: 13) points out, “there are many reasons for putting aside the traditional
pedagogical approach of employing NS models”. It is unfeasible and does not allow for learners’
subjectivity and social claims. Nor does it cater to their communication needs in a wider diversity of
contexts and reflect the recent global development of English. In response to the given criticisms, there
is a need to reconsider what it means to be a ‘socio-culturally competent’ EGL user, and work toward an
appropriate pedagogy that helps to achieve this competence in the new context.
2. Towards a socio-cultural competence in the EGL context: Implications for Vietnam
Needless to say, if the goal of ELT pedagogy is to train English speakers who will be communicating in a
globalized world, there is a need to shift to a new notion of ‘communicative competence’ “where the
communication is defined by the capacity of individuals of different cultures to interact” (Brumfit 2003:
120) rather than is limited to the capacity to interact with NSs. In a similar vein, socio-cultural
competence needs to be redefined by a broader set of knowledge and abilities than the knowledge of the
target culture norms alone. It needs to be seen as the capacity of individuals to be aware of the
differences that exist between their own system of beliefs and values and that of their interlocutors and
the capacity to negotiate these differences such that common understanding is achieved and solidarity is
established (see Gee 1993, Kramsch and Thorne 2002, Bredella 2003, all cited in Crawford 2006 for a
similar discussion). Obviously, the teacher’s task in the multilingual context of English use will become
more complex than in the past since they will need to help their learners to accommodate to a much
wider diversity of cultural perspectives and discourse communities than what is presented by the NS
community, and at the same time to achieve intelligibility without losing their cultural identity (Crystal
2001). This can be achieved only by a pedagogy that advocates cultural and linguistic diversity and that
respects learner individuality and system of beliefs and values.
Like any other countries in the ‘expanding circle’, Vietnam is giving an increasingly higher status to the
English language. A recent article found in Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper reveals that the Ministry of
Education and Training of Vietnam is planning a project worth 300-400 million USD for promoting the
teaching and learning of English in schools. English will be taught from Grade 3 (age 8) and become the
medium of instruction for selected subjects when students reach the upper-secondary school level. The
goals are also set that 80% of secondary school students throughout the country will be learning English
by the year 2020 and university graduates in targeted majors such as financing, banking, IT, and tourism
should achieve a working knowledge of the language. These facts and figures are plain indicators of the
government’s growing awareness of the important role of English as a means of both regional and global
communication.
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Figure 2: Top 10 FDI countries/ economies by number of projects
Looking at the context of English use in Vietnam today, I would argue that although much of cross-
cultural communication happening in the areas of business, trade and tourism is done in English, the
people involved come from a far wider diversity of L1 backgrounds than merely NSs of English. For
example, according to the Foreign Investment Agency (FIA), over 80 different countries and economies
have invested in Vietnam between 1988 and 2007. Among the top 10 investors (in terms of both number
of projects and registered capital), only USA is an ENL country (see Figures 2& 3). The statistics provided
by the General Statistics Office between 2000 and 2005 also indicates that international visitors to
Vietnam represented a wide diversity of nationalities and cultures (Figure 4). Besides the two ENL
countries, namely the UK and the USA, many EFL countries such as China, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand
were also found among the top sources of visitors.
Investment Capital in 1988-2007
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
12,000
14,000
16,000
Korea
Singa
pore
Taiw
an
Japan
Britis
h V.I
Hong
Kong
Mal
aysia
The U
SA
Neth
erla
nds
Fran
ce
Figure 3: Top 10 FDI countries/ economies by investment capital (in million USD)
When English is learned to be used outside Vietnam, I would also argue that it is for communication
across a wide range of cultures and speech communities. For example, in education, besides the vast
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number of Vietnamese students going to study in ENL countries such as the USA and Australia (PTIT, 18
May 2007), the number of students going to ESL countries such as Malaysia and Singapore is also
growing very fast (Bao Viet Nam, 28 September 2008; Gia dinh Online, 19 December 2007). A source
from Singapore reveals that Vietnamese students are among the 6 largest groups of overseas students in
this country (Bao Viet Nam, 28 September 2008).
Obviously, as English is increasing its influence as a global lingua franca on the world’s communication,
the range of cultural boundaries English users cross is also expanding. This is precisely what English
users in Vietnam are experiencing now. The implications that this reality has for English teachers are
crucial. My argument is the time has come for us to rethink our goal of ELT and the implications it brings
in terms of teaching methods, materials and assessment. If we are to develop fluent users of EGL, who
are capable of accommodating themselves to a wide variety of cultural perspectives without losing their
own sense of self and identity, we need to reconsider such issues as what makes a socio-culturally
competent English user, how this competence should be assessed and what cultural materials are useful
in teaching it. A pedagogical approach that employs NS models as sole ‘standard’ reference is certainly
not capable of helping us to achieve this goal.
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
Taiwan Japan France USA UK Thailand China
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
Figure 4: Statistics of international visitors to Vietnam in 2005
References
Bao Viet Nam (2008). Hoc sinh Viet Nam du hoc Singapore tang manh. Accessed October 20, 2008 at
http://www.baovietnam.vn/giao-duc/84085/20/Hoc-sinh-VN-du-hoc-Singapore-tang-manh
Bredella, L. (2003). For a flexible model of intercultural understanding. In G. Alfred, M. Byram, and M.
Fleming (Eds.), Intercultural Experience and Education (pp. 31-49). Clevedon: Multilingual
Matters.
Brumfit, C. (2003). Individual Freedom in Language Teaching: Helping Learners to Develop a Dialect of
their Own. Oxford: OUP.
Canale, M. & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language
teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics 1 (1), 1- 47.
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Canale, M. (1983). On some dimensions of language proficiency. In J. W. Oller (Ed.), Issues in Language
Testing Research (pp.332-342). Rowley, Massachusetts: Newbury House.
Cook, V. (201). Second Language Learning and Language Teaching. London: Anorld.
Crawford, J. (2006). Becoming an L2 user: Implications for Identity and Culture in the Language
Classroom. Studies about languages 8, 70-76.
Crystal, D. (1997). English as a Global Language. Cambridge: CUP.
Crystal, D. (2001). The future of Englishes. In A. Burns & C. Coffin (Eds.), Analyzing English in a Global
Context (pp.53-64). London: Routledge.
Ellis, R. (1994). The Study of Second Language Acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
FIA (2007). Statistics of Foreign Direct Investment in Vietnam in 1988-2007. Accessed October 08 at
http://fia.mpi.gov.vn/Default.aspx?ctl=Article2&TabID=4&mID=52&aID=412
Foley, J. (2007). English as a Global Language: My two satangs’ worth. RELC Journal 38 (1), 7-17.
Gee, J. (1993). An Introduction to Human Language: Fundamental Concepts in Linguistics. New Jersey:
Prentice Hall.
Gia dinh Online (2007). Sinh vien Viet Nam du hoc o Malaysia tang nhanh. Accessed October 20, 2008 at
http://www.giadinhonline.vn/Chitiettintuc/tabid/7944/ArticleID/100964/
Graddol, D. (2006). English Next. United Kingdom: British Council. Also vailable at
www.britishcouncil.org/learning-research.
Kachru, B. (1989). Teaching world Englishes. Indian Journal of Applied Linguistics 15 (1), 85-95.
Kachru, B. (1999). Asian Englishes: Contexts, Constructs and Creativity. Keynote address, The 12th World
Congress if the International Association of Applied Linguistics, Tokyo.
Kasper, G. (1997). The role of pragmatics in language teacher education. In K.Bardovi-Harlig &
B.Hartford, Beyond methods (pp. 113-141). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Kasper, G., & Rose, K. (2002). Pragmatic Development in a Second Language. Oxford: Blackwell.
Kramsch, C. & Thorne, S. (2002). Foreign language learning as global communicative practice. In D. Block
& D. Cameron (Eds.), Globalization and Language Teaching (pp.83-100). London: Routledge.
McKay, S. (2002). Teaching English as an International language: Rethinking goals and approaches.
Oxford: OUP.
McKay, S. (2003). Toward an appropriate EIL pedagogy: re-examining common ELT assumptions.
International Journal of Applied Linguistics 13 (1), 1-22.
Tong cuc Thong ke (2005). Nien giam thong ke 2005. Hanoi: NXB Tong cuc thong ke.
Nguoi Lao Dong (2008). 300-400 trieu USD cho du an day tieng Anh. Accessed October 20, 2008 at
http://www.nld.com.vn/tintuc/giao-duc/217900.asp
Rose, K., & Kasper, G. (2001). Pragmatics in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
PTIT (2008). Du hoc: Dua di sao chang don ve? Accessed October 20, 2008 at
http://www.ptit.edu.vn/news_detail.asp?id=1126&lang=0
Thomas, J. (1983). Cross-cultural pragmatic failure. Applied Linguistics 4, 91-112.
Yano, Y. (2001). World Englishes in 2000 and beyond. World Englishes 20 (2), 119-131.
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Teaching English as an International Language: Teaching English as an International Language: Teaching English as an International Language: Teaching English as an International Language:
Rethinking Goals and ApproachesRethinking Goals and ApproachesRethinking Goals and ApproachesRethinking Goals and Approaches
Sandra Lee Mckay – 2002
New York: Oxford University Press
Review by Thai Ha Lam ThuyThai Ha Lam ThuyThai Ha Lam ThuyThai Ha Lam Thuy
Academic Development, ULIS, VNU
Recent decades have witnessed the worldwide spread of English. It is estimated that
speakers of English as a second language and a foreign language will soon outnumber those
who speak it as a first language. For its globally undeniable dominance, many agree that
English has become an international language. Nevertheless, the spread of English has resulted
in a number of varieties of English spoken today regarding grammar, lexical, and phonological
levels (p.1). Hence, pedagogical implications in the teaching and learning English as an
international language (EIL) are urgently necessary to be examined more than ever before.
Teaching English as an International Language: Rethinking Goals and Approaches by McKay is
one among very few books dealing with this issue. The book also achieved Winner of the Ben
Warren International Book Award for outstanding teacher education materials.
This book consists of five chapters, an introduction, and a conclusion, each of which
examines a particular aspect of the phenomenon of teaching and learning EIL. The first chapter,
‘English as an International Language,’ tries to define an international language by examining
the essential features for a language to be international. Though the number of individuals who
use the language does count, it would be a hasty conclusion to define a language as such. One
very important characteristic of an international language is that it is “no longer linked to a
single culture or nation but serves both global and local needs as a language of wider
communication.” (p.24) Moreover, an international language needs to develop alongside other
languages. McKay also discusses the reasons which enhance and hinder the development of
English. The negative effects of this spread are touched upon together with its positive effects.
Kachru’s classification of Inner, Outer, and Expanding Circle countries is used to explain for the
current trend of English use in the world. The idea of the three concentric circles of the
language is utilized throughout the book to help better understand the assumptions that
current theories and practices of the teaching and learning English have stood on.
The purpose of Chapter two, ‘Bilingual Users of English,’ is to argue a native speaker norm
in English language research and pedagogy is not relevant and unproductive to many contexts
in which English is used as an international language. McKay also proceeds to problematize the
definition of ‘native speaker’ by evaluating the validity and appropriateness of a native speaker
norm. Furthermore, she points out the problems of using native-like competence in second
language acquisition research and suggests thoroughly examining individual learners’ specific
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uses of English within their particular speech community as a basis for determining learning
goals. She explores the native speaker ideal's impact on bilingual teachers and enumerates the
advantages that bilingual teachers bring to their profession when they share their students’
culture.
In Chapter three, ‘Standards for English as an International Language,’ McKay investigates
what variety of English should be considered the standard for international use of the language.
Distinctive linguistic features of varieties of English are examined. Changes in and attitudes
towards changes in lexical, grammatical, and phonological aspects are discussed with a
thorough review of previous studies. Regarding pragmatic and rhetorical competences, the
demand for conformity to Western cultural pragmatics and rhetorical conventions is
questioned. It is concluded that the focus should be placed on developing “awareness of cross-
cultural variation [rather than] promoting Inner Circle pragmatic and rhetorical rules” to answer
the question of intelligibility. (p.94)
As defined in chapter one, an international language is a language that “can’t be linked to
any one country or culture”, and it must belong to those who use it. However, questions of
whose discourse rules to apply in the use of EIL is problematic and whose culture of learning
should be used receive a great deal of concerns from educational. Regarding these issues,
Chapter four, ‘Culture in Teaching English as an International Language,’ explores culture in EIL
teaching and culture as it is embedded in teaching materials. The teaching of discourse
competence, the use of cultural materials in the classroom, and the cultural assumptions that
inform teaching methods are reexamined.
The last chapter, ‘Teaching Methods and English as an International Language,’ explores
the concept of ‘culture of learning’ by describing the cultural differences in learning between
Asian and Western countries. Moreover, different attitudes towards knowledge are examined.
While Asian students tend toward conserving knowledge end (knowledge of the past), Western
students tend toward extending knowledge (new knowledge is developed). From this point of
view, McKay argues “comparison of various non-western cultures with western ones suggests
that in some ways the latter are the standard and hence should provide the model for the
teaching of English. However, in the teaching of an international language, bilingual users
should be allowed to take ownership not only of the language but also of the methods used to
teach it.” (p. 107). Unfortunately communicative language teaching (CLT) – a teaching method
of Inner Circle developed countries - has been adopted widely under the assumption of
modernization theory with “limited insights until they become virtually meaningless” (Swan
1985, cited in McKay, 2002). In this chapter, McKay critically reviews the rise of communicative
language teaching (CLT) in particular contexts, especially in Asian countries. It is concluded
that one should not assume that a single teaching method (e.g., CLT) is appropriate in all
teaching and learning contexts. The notion of a cultural sensitivity of learning is promoted.
Furthermore, McKay shares an opinion with Prabhu (1990) that “no one best method and
no one method that is best for a particular context.” Prabhu’s believes “there is a factor more
basic than the choice between methods, namely, teachers’ subjective understanding of the
teaching they do” (1990, cited in McKay, 2002) – teachers’ ‘sense of plausibility’. This belief is
advocated by many famous scholars such as Kramsch and Sullivan. The findings in their study
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in Vietnam context are in keeping with the motto ‘think globally, act locally’; in other words,
‘global thinking, local teaching’. However, my concern would be laid in the validity of ‘teachers’
sense of plausibility’ or how teachers themselves can enhance their plausibility sense.
McKay's conclusion, Rethinking Goals and Approaches, succinctly summarizes the major
points elaborated in the book on the development of theories in EIL, teaching goals, and
approaches to teaching EIL. The book develops a strong case for shifting the ownership of
English away from Inner Circle countries through a wide review of studies in many parts of the
world.
The book is clearly written with well-structured organization. A short summary of what
have been discussed is provided at the end of every chapter. Teaching English as an
International Language is a useful source for reflection among those teaching English to
multilingual users, creating curriculum and materials for English courses, or conducting
research in the field of English language acquisition.
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Mentoring program at Division of English Skills 1– the pathway to become a Professional Learning Community Nguyen Thi Thu Hang & Can Thi Chang Duyen
Setting the sceneSetting the sceneSetting the sceneSetting the scene
Division of English Skills 1 (hereafter the division or Division 1) is in charge of teaching the
four language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing to first-year students enrolled in
English Department. The division has totally 28 teachers, ranging from 24 to 34 years of age. Half
of the teaching staff has been working in the division for 4-6 years; one third has less than two
years experience; and the most senior group (5 teachers) has been teaching for about 8-10 years.
The division suffers high rate of turnover since every year an average of 4-5 teachers (mostly in the
middle group) are transferred to other divisions in the department and it usually expects to recruit
very young teachers who are newly graduates. Therefore, a mentoring program was devised in 2009
to 1) assist the young teachers in the beginning of their career; 2) promote the learning and sharing
practice in the division; 3) create an understanding and supporting relationship among the teaching
staff; and 4) improve the teaching quality reflected in the enhanced students’ outcomes.
Each year the mentoring program focuses on a particular language skill. In the first year it was
Listening skill, then Reading in 2010, and this year Speaking. The most senior group and some from
the middle group (with 6 years experience) are appointed mentors, and mentorship is for less
experienced teachers, though priority is given to the youngest group with less than two years
teaching. Participation in the mentoring program is on a voluntary basis, though most of the
division members are encouraged to join.
At the first meeting of the program (usually one or two weeks before school year starts), the
list of mentors and mentees is finalized and mentees can directly contact and choose his/her
mentor; otherwise the program coordinator will randomly match mentor-mentee pairs, making sure
each mentor has no more than two mentees to avoid overload. At the second or third week, a senior
teacher in the mentor group will give a sample lesson of the focused skill. This sample lesson is
video recorded. Anyone can access this video and consult it for his/her teaching.
After the sample lesson of an experienced teacher, each mentor-mentee pair will then agree
on a meeting schedule, in which they can discuss the mentee’s lesson plans and teaching activities
(of the focused skill) to receive feedbacks, comments, and suggestions. They also decide the two
lessons in a semester when the mentor will come to the mentee’s class to observe. The observation
schedules of all pairs are sent to the coordinator, who will make a synthesis to inform the whole
division.
When it comes to the scheduled lesson, mentor goes to observe mentee’ class. Then mentor
and mentee sit down again to discuss the delivered lesson and draw out remarks and possibilities
for improvement. All of the mentees’ classes in which there is mentors’ observation are video
recorded. In case they want to have a closer look back at their lesson, the video tape is served as a
useful means. Also, by watching the video tape again, both mentor and mentee may find other
details that they have missed in the observation. The bank of video tapes is accessible to not only
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the mentor-mentee pair but also everyone in the division. It is also stored for later use as teaching
resources and researching database.
After each observed class, an evaluation form is delivered to the students, asking them to give
comments on content of the lesson, the teacher and their overall feeling. At the end of the
semester, another evaluation form is given to students, but focuses on the teacher who teaches the
focused skill. The evaluation of teachers is known to leaders of the division only.
There are two meeting sessions held for the whole division, one in the middle and the other at
the end of the semester. In these meetings, feedback for mentors and mentees in general is
discussed and evaluation of the whole program is given. Besides, these meetings aim to facilitate
and consolidate the open and sharing atmosphere among the members.
A learning communityA learning communityA learning communityA learning community
In implementing the mentoring program and making it a regular practice, Division of language
skills 1 is hoping to create a Professional Learning Community. As Stoll et al. points out in his
review of literature on Professional Learning Communities (2006), “learning can no longer be left to
individuals. To be successful in a changing and increasingly complex world, it is suggested that
whole school communities need to work and learn together to take charge of change, finding the
best ways to enhance young people’s learning” (p. 222). It can be seen clearly that the mentoring
program in the division is first and foremost to “enhance young people’s learning”. By discussing
and receiving feedbacks, comments and suggestions, young teachers get the experience from more
senior teachers on their specific teaching pedagogies and contents; hence, the theories they learnt
at college are consolidated with real-life practice. By exchanging opinions, teachers find out the
best way to deliver a lesson with its particular aims and objectives, with particular teaching
resources that a teacher has at hand.
Not only does mentoring program benefit young teachers, it also provides opportunities for
more senior staff to critically reflect their teaching practices. Young teachers are often characterized
by enthusiasm and vigorous teaching styles, their inclination to apply updated technological
advancements in their classroom practice while more senior staff, who after several years has
accumulated remarkable experience and resources, tend to follow their routines. By working with
new teachers, it is likely that more experienced staff is motivated to revitalize their teaching
routines. Moreover, the exchange of applying technological advancements into classroom practice
can be mutually beneficial, for senior staff, it helps to diversify their teaching resources; for junior
staff, it is to make sure they don’t get carried away by fancy techno, become indulgent in technical
details and forget the global content of the lesson. But most importantly, during the process of
lesson plan discussion, both mentor and mentees have to “make the tacit explicit” by analysing the
underpinnings of each and every teaching activity, by which reflecting their underlying beliefs in
teaching profession. As such, the division is driven toward “a group of people sharing and critically
interrogating their practice in an ongoing, reflective, collaborative, inclusive, learning-oriented,
growth-promoting way” (Mitchell et al., as cited in Stoll et al., 2006, p. 223).
The observation is to be actually involved in the teaching and learning atmosphere planned by
the mentees. It is obvious that what one plans is never exactly what happens. Although it gives
certain pressure on the mentee, it does make the mentee prepare better for their lesson and
therefore, more able to respond to unexpected situations. “The reported changes in teacher
behaviour included: greater confidence; enhanced beliefs among teachers of their power to make a
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difference to pupils’ learning; development of enthusiasm for collaborative working despite initial
anxiety about classroom observation; and, greater commitment to changing practice and
willingness to try new things” (Stoll et al., 2006, p. 230). In observing the class, both mentor and
mentee see what really works of their plan and draw valuable insights for themselves. Mentor and
mentee compare their lesson plan and the actual happenings to develop lesson plans for further
classes.
Apart from the “learning” component of the concept, the “community” part is also essential.
What matters in a community is not just the growth of the division but also “an ethic of
interpersonal caring permeating the life of teachers, students and school leaders” (Hargreaves &
Giles, as cited in Stoll et al., 2006). This “interpersonal caring” characteristic of a community is
clearly felt in every day interactions between division leaders and teachers, between teachers
themselves, and between teachers and students. Perhaps since most of the teaching staff are
alumni of the same department, they have been familiar with the learning and teaching style, the
shared norms and values. Above all, for the long period of time they have spent in the same college,
they have a feeling toward the division and the department like “a second family”.
For the learning community to be effective, it is important that “the ultimate outcome of PLCs
has to be experienced by students” (Stoll et al., 2006, p. 229). Understanding this crucial criterion,
the division has indicated in the goal of mentoring program that the improvement in teaching
quality has to translate into students’ outcomes. As a matter of fact, it is very difficult to establish
and confirm the causal relation between teaching quality enhanced by the mentoring program on
the one hand and increased students’ outcomes on the other. However, the overall effectiveness of
the program still needs to be assessed from students’ perspective. Researchers have found that
“increased classroom motivation and work satisfaction, greater collective responsibility for student
learning” can be good indicators for community’s effectiveness (Stoll et al., p. 229). To obtain this,
one method that the division has exploited is the evaluation form delivered to students after each
observed class. Students have reported to find the activities sufficiently challenging, the teachers
highly competent, and the lessons generally more exciting and engaging. Another means for
assessment is students’ standardized test scores. All the students’ scores in diagnostic test in the
first week, mid-term test, and end-of-term test are analysed and compared to detect progress or
remaining weakness. Based on the analysis, suggestions or adaptations in the teaching syllabus are
made. This practice is also prescribed by Newmann, King and Youngs in the operation of effective
learning communities. According to the authors, three key components to be stressed in a strong
professional learning community are “collaborative work and discussion among the school’s
professionals, a strong and consistent focus on teaching and learning within that collaborative
work, and the collection and use of assessment and other data to inquire into and evaluate the
progress over time” (as cited in Giles & Hargreaves, 2006, p. 126).
Collaboration and collegiality among teachersCollaboration and collegiality among teachersCollaboration and collegiality among teachersCollaboration and collegiality among teachers
As discussed earlier, though the program is named mentoring and mentor/mentee roles are
assigned, the members of the division stand on a relatively equal footing. They view the program
more like collaboration among colleagues rather than supervision of senior staff toward beginning
staff. As such, the form of collaboration in the mentoring program can be distinguished as a
continuum from providing aid and assistance to sharing ideas, materials and methods (Little, as
cited in Kelchtermans, 2006). Together with other joint research projects and co-teaching
programs, teachers in the division actively develop various forms of collaboration.
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The equal and respectful stance also indicates that each teacher in the division is autonomous
in and responsible for his own teaching. Moreover, the students’ evaluation at the end of semester,
to some extent, puts pressure on every teacher to perform responsibly. Consequently, teachers are
geared toward inquiry-mindedness and committed to self-improvement. As argued by Firestone
and Pennell (as cited in Kelchtermans, 2006), this amalgamation of collaboration and autonomy
helps enhance the feeling of commitment and intrinsic motivation in teachers. Being responsible for
their own teaching, or their students’ performance in other words, “allows them to make internal
causal attributions for pupils’ results”; hence, sustains their commitment in their professional
development.
The practice of mentoring program in Division 1 doesn’t stop at discussing lesson plans,
exchanging of ideas and making suggestions for teaching pedagogies. Very often teachers are
engaged in challenging the taken-for-granted procedures and arrangements of the existing
conventions. In so doing, teachers unravel their underlying beliefs in teaching practice. An example
of this is when a teacher tried to design a lesson plan with full of fun and exciting games for her
reading class and another teacher questioned the effectiveness of these activities, doubting that
students might get indulged in the excitement of the games and not necessarily develop the
competence as described in the objectives of lesson. By confronting the “why” of these activities, it
was revealed that one teacher believed that learning is best implemented in an exciting and
interactive environment in which students can absorb knowledge naturally and effortlessly while the
other teacher emphasized the objectives being met and learning shouldn’t always be easy and
painless but quite the opposite.
Another example of confronting beliefs took place when teachers observe others’ class and
see how divergent they are in evaluating students’ performance in speaking and writing skills. In
spite of a common rubric for assessment, teachers still differ a great deal in their subjective grading
of these productive skills. While some teachers are more likely to reward high marks based on the
effort and progress a student has made in an assignment, others pay more attention and give more
weight to the quality of the final product; consequently, appear to be tougher in grading. These
contradictions have finally led to a division meeting to agree on more detailed criteria for evaluation
of students’ assignments.
For this “deep learning” practice to take place, members of the division should be able to have
a certain “level of trust and safety”, without which “teachers will hardly be willing to engage
professional collaboration and exchange that might threaten their deeply held professional beliefs”
(Kechtermans, 2006). “Working together productively in schools depends on positive relationships
and collegiality” and “engaging in learning can be risky, especially when working with colleagues.
Teachers are unlikely to participate in classroom observation and feedback, mentoring partnerships,
discussion about pedagogical issues, curriculum innovation, unless they feel safe. Trust and respect
from colleagues is critical” (Stoll et al., 2006, p. 239).
The feeling of autonomy and the “level of trust and safety” manifested in the mentoring
program have to do with the organizational culture of the college in general and the department in
particular. As a college of foreign languages, it has always been an open, dynamic and flexible
working environment. English Department, the biggest and most prominent department,
unsurprisingly more than often provide the leadership resources for the college. English Department
is also characterized by young teachers (three quarters of the staff are under 40 years of age), and
its ability to adapt to and initiate change. Were it not for this tradition of welcoming and initiating
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change in the organization, the young staff of the division wouldn’t easily engage in straightforward
exchange of beliefs. Rather, they would have contributed to maintaining the status quo of the
organization.
Making the community sustainableMaking the community sustainableMaking the community sustainableMaking the community sustainable
For the division to sustain its quality learning and teaching tradition, emphasis is placed first
and foremost on each individual teacher. This orientation of individual focus is considered by Hall
and Hord as of central importance in order to achieve successful change: “although everyone wants
to talk about such broad concepts as policy, systems, and organizational factors, successful change
starts and ends at the individual level” (as cited in Stoll et al., 2006, p. 243). Claxton (1996)
discusses the factors that facilitate or hinder an individual’s willingness to learn and stresses
attention to be paid to those factors (as cited in Stoll et al., 2006).
A fact in Division 1 is that most teachers are graduated from the same department of the same
college. On the one hand, it creates an “informal culture of congeniality” in which people feel close
and bonded, it inevitably poses a threat to the sustainable development of the division (Staessens,
as cited in Kelchtermans, 2006). Hargreaves (1994), Johnson (2003) as well as Sato Kleisasser
(2004) also note that this pleasant and collegial relationship may run the risk of “suppressing
individuality and creativity of thought”, “silencing teachers’ individual beliefs (...) and all dissonant
voices”, and ultimately “contributing to continuing the status quo” (as cited in Kelchtermans, 2006).
All of this taken into account, teachers in Division 1 are strongly encouraged to take part in
various professional development programs organized by external organizations and institutions.
Policies of the division oblige everyone to attend at least one professional development program
each year and to share what they have acquired from the program to colleagues in a follow-up
workshop or seminar. More importantly, all teachers are given incentives to pursue their master and
doctoral degrees overseas, especially in countries with renowned higher education systems. Upon
returning, most teachers become active members of a certain research group and contribute to
inspiring other members of the community.
The division also wishes to influence the broader community by extending its successful
implementation of mentoring program and learning culture to other units in the department and
college. The mentoring program can be adapted and multiplied to other divisions in the college,
and incorporated with other professional development programs at department and college levels.
The underlying belief is that in reproducing the practice of learning and sharing to other units, a
consistent and favourable environment will be built, which, in turn, benefits the division. When
learning culture is not specific to the division only, teachers can enjoy a wider network of
collaboration and become more motivated.
ConclusionConclusionConclusionConclusion
Though the mentoring program has been implemented for only three years, it has proved to
be effective and meaningful to the division as a whole and to every individual teacher. Mentoring
program has served as a ground for all the members, novice and veteran, to bring in their
knowledge, expertise and passion for the job, all to the benefits of the students. It is also an
instrument for the division in achieving its ambition of becoming a professional learning
community, a leading and exemplary unit in the college. Although still much more should be said
and done, all teachers in the division together cherish and work toward the sustainable growth of
their “second family”.
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ReferencesReferencesReferencesReferences
Achinstein. B., & Athanases, S. Z. (2010). New teacher induction and mentoring for educational
change. In: Hargreaves, A. et al., (Eds). Second International Handbook of Educational Change,
(pp.573-593). New York: Springer.
Giles, C., & Hargreaves, A. (2006). The sustainability of innovative schools as learning organizations
and professional learning communities during standardized reform. Educational Administration
Quarterly, 42(1), 124-156.
Kelchtermans, G. (2006). Teacher collaboration and collegiality as workplace conditions: A literature
review. Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, 52 (2), 220-237
Stoll, L., Bolam, R., McMahon, A., Wallace, M., & Thomas, S. (2006) Professional learning
communities: A review of the literature. Journal of Educational Change, 7, 221–258.
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Call for Contribution Editorial Board
FELTE Quarterly (FQ), a journal of, for and by FELTE teachers, invites all
enthusiastic readers to contribute articles on multifaceted life at Faculty of English Language
Teacher Education, ULIS, VNU and to engage its staff members in collegial discussion about
issues in the field.
FQ is published once every semester as an e-journal and for internal circulation only.
Below are the guidelines for submission.
1111.... Submission categoriesSubmission categoriesSubmission categoriesSubmission categories
- News (in FELTE Rhythm): pieces of news about pre-eminent activities involving FELTE
teachers to keep the whole faculty staff up to date.
- Interviews (in FELTE Faces): interviews with conspicuous faculty figures so that their
colleagues can learn from their recipes for success.
- Feature articles: research reports on a variety of ELT issues.
- Reviews: reviews of ELT- related books, articles, and other teaching – learning materials
- Teaching in focus: practical ideas for classrooms (including but not limited to lesson plan,
worksheets and Power Point slide show).
- Do you know: short pieces of information which are often taken for granted but may be new
to quite a few.
- Fun corner: may include but not limited to word searches, crossword puzzles, funny stories
and comic strips for edutainment.
2222.... Technical requirementsTechnical requirementsTechnical requirementsTechnical requirements
- The submission should conform to the style guidelines in The Publications Manual of the
American Psychological Association(6th edition). For information, see the APA Web site.
- Authors may use British or American spelling, but the spelling style should be consistent.
- The manuscripts must be submitted electronically to the FQ Managerial Board via the email
address [email protected].
- Submissions should be in Microsoft Word or compatible program. Please submit figures,
graphs, and other graphic elements in a standard graphic format (e.g., JPEG) or Excel.
Tables should be created in Microsoft Word or compatible program.
- All quoted material must be cited in text and in a reference list. The FQ Editorial Advisory
Board will determine a clear policy and definition of plagiarism, and its decision will be final.
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Faculty of English Language Teacher Education
University of Languages and International Studies, VNU
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