Primary English language teachers’ engagement in professional development

PRIMARY ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ 
ENGAGEMENT IN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Nguyen Thi Thom Thom, Pham Thi Thanh Thuy* 
VNU University of Languages and International Studies, 
Pham Van Dong, Cau Giay, Hanoi, Vietnam
Received 8 September 2018 
Revised 24 January 2019; Accepted 31 January 2019
Abstract: Teachers’ professional development (PD) is viewed as the center of educational reforms 
in many countries, and this topic has been widely researched by scholars such as Avalos (2011), Darling-
Hammond & McLaughlin (2011), Le (2002), and Whitehouse (2011). However, primary English language 
teachers (PELTers)’ PD has been under-researched in Vietnamese contexts. This paper outlines a project 
researching PELTers’ PD in a period of ongoing educational transformation, initiated by the National Foreign 
Languages Project. The authors highlight a ‘mixed methods’ research design with data collected from 68 
surveys and five individual semi-structured interviews in a province in North Vietnam. Both the impact of 
language policy on Vietnamese PELTers’ PD and their responses to top-down PD requirements and provision 
are under investigation. Some initial findings are (i) PELTers’ rationales for PD; (ii) their engagement in 
PD forms and topics; (iii) benefits of PD; (iv)their PD need areas; and (v) factors affecting PD engagement. 
PELTers’ suggestions for improving PD in their contexts are also discussed. This paper offers significant 
insights for EFL researchers, policy-makers, EFL teacher training institutions and other educators. 
Keywords: professional development, EFL teachers, primary English language teaching
1. Introduction1
Education reform in Vietnam officially 
started some years after the introduction of the 
“Doi Moi” or Open Door/Renovation Policy 
in 1986. In the new context of globalisation, 
English serves as an important communication 
tool for economic and social development, 
and a leading foreign language subject in the 
school system. Furthermore, general education 
renovation and EFL in particular, have been 
one of the goals of the Open Door Policy, 
therefore in 2006 the Government renewed 
the Law of Education, and on 30 September 
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 84-989131406
 Email: msthuy.pham@gmail.com
2008, Vietnam Ministry of Education and 
Training (MoET) introduced Project 2020 
under Decision 1400 of the Prime Minister 
which aimed to renovate thoroughly the tasks 
of teaching and learning foreign languages 
within the national educational system in the 
period 2008–2020 (Government of Vietnam, 
2008). Project 2020 was revised and adapted 
to be more suitable for the new period 2017-
2025 on 22 December 2017. Some specific 
objectives of the project (hereby referred to 
as the NFL Project) are the implementation 
of a new ten-year general English program 
(from English 3 through to English 12), with 
100% of grade 3, 70% of grade 6, 60% of 
grade 10 students who will be learning this 
132 N.T.T. Thom, P.T.T. Thuy/ VNU Journal of Foreign Studies, Vol.35, No.1 (2019) 131-142
new program by the school year 2020-2021, 
and 100% of the graduates from English 
teacher training programs to be well qualified 
in both their teaching profession and English 
proficiency level by 2025 (Government of 
Vietnam, 2017). 
To achieve these goals and objectives, 
there has been an urgent need for new 
training and retraining of many teachers in 
both methodology and English proficiency. 
Currently, over 86,000 Vietnamese EFL 
teachers work at all school levels in the national 
education system, but a majority of the teaching 
staff have not met the standard requirements 
of their professional teaching roles (Nguyen, 
forthcoming). For example, statistics from a 
reliable media agency indicated that in a large 
city, only 31.7% primary school teachers, 
36.5% mid-school teachers and 25.83% high 
school teachers passed the competence test 
in English proficiency and ELT methodology 
(Tuệ Nguyễn, 2015).
Various methods and activities have been 
utilized to train these in-service low-quality 
teachers, for example: face-to-face training, 
online training or blended training, different 
professional development (PD) activities: 
reflective teaching, keeping and sharing 
journals, peer mentoring and coaching, 
forming and/or joining a teacher support 
group or network, forming or joining local 
and national teachers’ associations, etc. 
(Murray, 2010). Teachers of different levels 
of proficiency, and from different places will 
choose to take part in the most suitable PD 
activities to improve their English proficiency 
and teaching skills.
For the primary English language teachers 
(PELTers), they most often choose to attend 
the blended training programs during summer 
in order to achieve the acquired certificates 
from MoET. This model seems to be more 
effective than others because it is direct 
training (i.e. they get hands-on experience) 
with more practice.
Calling on data from a large-scaled 
project researching Vietnamese EFL teachers’ 
PD under the context of the NFL Project, 
this paper highlights PELTers’ experiences 
and perceptions via analysis of 68 survey 
responses and five interview transcripts, 
collected during a summer PD course in a 
province in North Vietnam. The paper is 
therefore organised into the following parts: 
(1) Introduction; (2) Conceptualisation of 
PD for teachers/PELTers; (3) Description of 
the study; (4) Data collection and analysis; 
(5) Preliminary findings; and (6) Conclusion. 
In particular, the findings address five major 
themes that lead to further discussions and 
implications for future related studies. 
2. Conceptualisation of teachers’ 
professional development 
In their daily life and work, teachers 
experience various activities and interactions 
that may facilitate their knowledge and skills, 
their teaching practice and improvement from 
personal, social and emotional perspectives. 
These activities, whether formally such 
as structured topic-specific seminars or 
informally, namely hallway discussions and 
everyday conversations (Desimone, 2009), 
whether partly or primarily intended for 
improved performance namely workshops, 
local and national conferences, college courses, 
special institutes and centres can be counted 
in a complex development process (Little, 
1993). The process can empower teachers’ 
competence in terms of instructional skills, 
curriculum development, implementation 
and evaluation skills throughout their lifelong 
teaching career, and act as leverage for teacher 
development. 
133VNU Journal of Foreign Studies, Vol.35, No.1 (2019) 131-142
The conceptualisation of teachers’ PD 
has also attracted scholars from a vast range 
of broader views over the past decades 
(Desimone, 2009, p. 182), specifically the 
application of situated and cognitive views 
of learning as interactive and social based in 
discourse and community practice. PD can also 
facilitate teachers to encounter challenges of 
the teaching job, since teachers themselves are 
fully aware of the fact that they need to learn 
and adapt to the multiple contexts, taking into 
account both the individual teacher-learners, 
the PD programs, the systems and context in 
which they are participants (Borko, 2004).
On the basis of teacher needs, the 
effectiveness of a PD activity can also be 
ensured through (i) topics that emerge from 
teacher interests; (ii) long-term commitments 
from the participants and related parties; 
and (iii) engagement in clear measurement 
and evaluation of goals and teaching targets 
(Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin, 2011). In 
a broader context, continuing PD can be driven 
by such major characteristics as identified 
learning needs, sustainability, subject specific, 
classroom-based, collaboration, external 
expertise utilisation; and by other supporting 
factors, including funding and policy platform 
(Whitehouse, 2011).
3. The study
Recently the PD of teachers in general 
has been well acknowledged in research 
(Desimone, 2009) and international studies 
cover conceptualisation of PD, features of 
a quality PD activity, models and stages of 
teachers’ on-going development, factors 
affecting teacher development, impact of 
PD engagement on teachers, etc. in different 
contexts (Broad & Evans, 2006; Caena, 2011; 
Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin, 2011; 
Day & Sachs, 2005; Fraser, Kennedy, Reid, & 
Mckinney, 2007; Kennedy, 2005; Offices of 
Development Effectiveness, 2015; Villegas-
Reimers, 2003). However, the studies of 
PELTers’ PD in Vietnamese contexts have 
not received sufficient attention. Grounded 
on the above general world-view of PD for 
teachers and the authors’ experiences in 
working with Vietnamese PELTers in a range 
of PD programs under the NFL Project, this 
study investigated the current contexts that 
Vietnamese PELTers have been undertaking 
PD and that have shaped their PD engagement, 
with particular regards to their rationales for 
PD and provision for their PD. The study also 
examined PELTers’ experiences of certain PD 
forms and topics provided by MoET and/or 
local training departments. The study further 
explored how PD engagement places impact 
on PELTers and what factors affect their 
undertaking PD, as well as offering PELTers’ 
opportunities to raise their voice about how to 
empower their PD engagement, considering 
their PD needs and contexts.
4. Data collection and analysis
In this descriptive study, we employed 
a mixed-methods approach to provide an 
insight into the research problem (Creswell, 
2015) and minimise the disadvantages of a 
single research method (Wiersma & Jurs, 
2009). Both quantitative and qualitative data 
were collected between July and August 2017. 
The data focused on PELTers’ experiences of 
PD regarding (i) their PD context; (ii) their 
engagement in specific PD programs and/or 
activities; (iii) factors affecting PELTers’ PD 
engagement; (iv) impacts of PD engagement 
on PELTers; and (v) PELTers’ own suggestions 
for improving their on-going PD. 
The designed surveys were piloted by five 
language teachers in an education provider 
in Hanoi. The vetting process helped identify 
134 N.T.T. Thom, P.T.T. Thuy/ VNU Journal of Foreign Studies, Vol.35, No.1 (2019) 131-142
possible vagueness in the survey questions 
and involved several adaptations in terms 
of both the language and format. The final 
surveys were then distributed to PELTers in 
a northern province, about 80 kilometres far 
from the capital. These PELTers, currently 
working within the geographical location, 
were assigned to attend an official PD program 
co-organised by their provincial Department 
of Education and Training (DoET) and an 
authorised EFL teacher education institution 
under the NFL Project. The program consisted 
of 400-hour blended training, of which there 
were 100 hour-face-to-face training and 200 
hour-online learning. PELTers also did micro 
teaching during training and at real primary 
schools as part of the program, and completed 
other required assessment tasks before being 
granted with a program certificate. 
Sixty-eight PELTers agreed to become 
the researched participants. They responded 
to a pen-and-paper survey in Vietnamese, 
consisting of two sections. Section 1 covered 
10 content questions regarding PELTers’ PD 
experiences. Quetions 1-3 addressed PELTers’ 
frequency of PD engagement, rationales for 
PD and PD providers. Questions 4-5 focused 
on participants’ evaluation of the effectiveness 
of their engagement in specific PD forms 
and topics, using a four-scale rating from 
‘not effective’ to ‘very effective’. Questions 
6-7 examined participants’ PD needs, based 
on their reflection on one most effective PD 
program or activity they had attended over 
the past five years. Questions 8-9 aimed to 
investigate participants’ perceptions of factors 
affecting their PD engagement as well as 
impact of their PD engagement. Question 
10 addressed participants’ opinions on how 
to improve their PD engagement. Section 
2 covered six close-ended demographic 
questions, namely participants’ gender, work 
location, employment status, qualification, 
mode of training and work experience. 
Most of the surveyed participants are 
female (N = 62; 91.18%), which is not 
phenomenal in overall Vietnamese teaching 
personnel contexts as well as in PELT. They 
were teaching at various schools in rural areas 
in the selected province. It was worth noticing 
that only over a quarter of participants secured 
their employment status with tenure conditions 
while 61.71% of their colleagues were in less-
than-one-year contracts. Nearly two-thirds of 
the participants previously attended full-time 
teacher training courses, and a great number 
of them held a bachelor’s degree in English 
language teaching from teacher education 
colleges and universities (N = 55; 80.88%). 
Participants’ experience in PELT varied from 
below three years to twenty years, with over 
half of them having been teaching for three to 
ten years, and 27.94% belonging to the 10 – 
20 years group (See Table 1).
Table 1. Participants’ demographic information
Information Details Number(N = 68) Percent
School 
geographical 
location
Metropolitan areas
Rural areas
Missing information
2
58
8
2.94%
85.29%
Employment 
status
Tenure
Long-term contract (>1 year)
Short-term contract (<1 year)
Missing information
19
4
42
3
27.94%
5.88%
61.76%
135VNU Journal of Foreign Studies, Vol.35, No.1 (2019) 131-142
Information Details Number(N = 68) Percent
Highest 
qualification
Bachelor’s degree (from junior colleges)
Bachelor’s degree (from colleges and universities)
Master’s degree
Missing information
9
55
1
3
13.23%
80.88%
1.47%
Training mode
Full-time
In-service
Missing information
44
18
6
64.71%
26.47%
Years of PELT 
experience
<3 years
3 – 10 years
10 – 20 years
>20 years
Missing information
5
40
19
0
4
7.35%
58.82%
27.94%
0%
After completing the survey, 15 
participants consented to taking a follow-up 
semi-structured interview in the second phase 
of data collection. Finally, five participants 
were selected to become the interviewees on 
ground of their willingness, their teaching 
experience and their understanding of PD 
in PELT contexts. These participants were 
provided with further explanations of the 
research, and they had opportunities to ask 
questions related to the interview protocol. 
When they were ready, their responses were 
audio-recorded. They reflected on their PD, 
addressing (i) their engagement frequency 
and effectiveness of specific PD programs 
and/or activities; (ii) benefits and constraints 
on PD engagement; (iii) their PD needs; and 
(iv) their suggestions for improving PD. The 
interview recordings lasted approximately 
20 minutes on average. All the interv ... ties 
for active learning (N = 67), and financial 
support (N = 66). Other factors also counted 
by these PELTers were: logistical support (N 
= 64), quality of PD programs (N = 64), time 
when PD programs take place (N = 63), and 
personal issues (N = 56). 
When asked to clarify their ideas on these 
factors, several of participants gave further 
explanations. There were not always equal 
opportunities for all teachers to attend a PD 
event due to the inadequate provision of PD 
programs and the lack of teachers doing their 
teaching tasks at school, especially when the 
PD programs were held during school year. 
In this case, some teachers would not have 
chance to attend these programs. In other 
cases, the teachers who had been chosen 
could not participate the PD programs either, 
just because the time of the program was 
inconvenient for them. One teacher explained 
when being interviewed: 
In my school, there are only two 
teachers. Each of us has to teach 
24 periods [35 minutes each] per 
week. So when one goes to a PD 
course during working days, the 
other cannot do the colleague’ 
work. If the PD course is held at 
139VNU Journal of Foreign Studies, Vol.35, No.1 (2019) 131-142
weekend, other problems might 
arise too, such as their family 
responsibilities, personal plans, or 
personal health. And the contents of 
some PD programs we attended did 
not meet our needs; the materials 
were not good enough; or more 
problematically, the trainers were 
not well-qualified or well-trained as 
we expected, etc. (Teacher D)
5.5. Empowering primary English language 
teachers’ professional development
To solve the ineffectiveness and 
inconvenience of the current PD programs, 
and to help PELTers overcome their 
difficulties in attending PD programs, we need 
to understand the teachers’ needs for PD, and 
listen to their suggestions for improving their 
PD engagement. After that we will design 
PD courses that meet the PELTers’ needs 
in both contents and forms, and at suitable 
time, in order to maximize/ empower their 
engagement. 
In the survey, we asked the PELTers about 
their needs for PD (question 7). We received 
responses from 51 teachers for this open-
ended question, of which 29.41% preferred to 
be trained in teaching methods, 13.73% liked 
courses which focused on using IT in teaching 
or giving demo teaching of each lesson. 
Other teachers needed more training in using 
interactive boards (9.80%), teaching phonics 
and pronunciation (7.84%). A small number 
of teachers liked improving both their English 
language and teaching skills (N = 3), teaching 
listening (N = 2), and PD about managing 
classroom (N = 1). 
When asked what they would suggest for 
improving PD programs and ensuring more of 
their engagement, not only 25 surveyed but all 
the interviewed PELTers were willing to share 
their thoughts. More than half of them (52%) 
shared the idea of shortening the training time 
during the week, just two or three days at most, 
or they just want to be trained in the mornings 
or afternoons. They would like to spend the 
rest of the day on their school work or house 
work. Some of them suggested being able to 
schedule their time of training themselves. 
The surveyed and interviewed teachers 
also talked about the content and methods of 
training. Three out of the five interviewees 
(Teacher A, C, D) said that training contents 
should be practical. Some training contents 
were still rather theoretical, i.e. trainers focused 
more on the principles or theories of teaching, 
such as “Why should we use this method/ 
this song/ this game to teach children?”, or 
“How can we teach language skills?” “What 
activities should be used in pre- or post- 
stages?” so on and so forth. However, there 
was little time for demonstration or practice of 
those theories. Two teachers suggested:
Trainers should give demo teaching 
or examples using the lessons taken 
from English textbooks being used 
by us. For example, when trainers 
teach us how to teach phonics, they 
can use Unit 6, Lesson 3, Part 1, in 
Tieng Anh 3 [This session focuses 
on teaching 2 sounds: /k/, /d/]. 
When they teach songs and chants, 
they can use many of them in the 
textbooks. This is the kind of hands-
on training, and we prefer this way. 
(Teachers C and D)
Teacher A added: “Trainer should provide 
us techniques applicable in our teaching. 
Activities focusing on theories should be 
limited”. 
Other suggestions by the majority of 
the surveyed PEFTers (N= 18 out of 25) for 
improving their PD engagement include: 
more seminars and workshops delivered by 
foreign specialists or native teachers, and held 
in or outside local regions; and more financial 
supports, more convenient teaching and 
140 N.T.T. Thom, P.T.T. Thuy/ VNU Journal of Foreign Studies, Vol.35, No.1 (2019) 131-142
training conditions given by the NFL Project, 
local DoET and their schools. A teacher added:
We need to be allowed to teach fewer 
lessons or some replacement staff 
who teach for us during the time we 
attend training sessions; and more 
importantly, we need some money to 
cover our travel and accommodation 
expenses because our schools do not 
pay for the lessons/ the time we do 
not teach at schools, but at training 
locations. (Teacher E)
One more suggestion for PD programs is 
about course assessment. Some PELTers (36%) 
thought that there should be considerations 
about assignments and assessments for 
intensive PD courses within a short timeframe. 
They cited the training course on using new 
English textbooks that they had attended the 
previous year as a typical example. The course 
was so demanding with many assignments 
and assessment tools, namely participation, 
online and classroom quizzes, final test, 
micro teaching, observation, school visits 
and teaching practice. They had to cope with 
time management while still having to deal 
with their heavy workload at primary school. 
For these reasons, a few teachers suggested 
replacing micro teaching at training venue 
and/ or teaching practice at school with their 
filmed real teaching at primary school. An 
experienced teacher further explained:
In this way, we do not have to act as 
false students during micro teaching, 
and save us much time, money, and 
efforts on practice teaching at different 
schools. On your part [trainers’ part], 
you do not have to travel a long way 
to the provincial schools to watch and 
assess us. (Teacher B)
We – researchers – feel this suggested 
alternative assessment a feasible one.
As many as 20 out of 25 teachers who 
answered the surveyed question 16, and 
many more of PELTers attended the training 
course recommended that it was high time 
the training rooms were better equipped; 
and learning and training conditions were 
improved. They opined to the fact that the 
rooms need properly-operated projectors and 
good internet access so that trainees could 
watch demo video lessons. Besides, it would 
be much better if they could learn in air-
conditioned training rooms, especially during 
such terribly hot weather.
6. Conclusion 
We have provided an insight of the 
education transformation in Vietnamese 
contexts, addressing the call for English 
language education, English language teacher 
education under the implementation of the 
NFL Project. In particular, we have presented 
part of our large-scaled research project on 
EFL teachers’ PD. 
Within the scope of this paper, we focus on 
PELTer’s experiences and perceptions of PD 
engagement. Albeit preliminary, our findings 
and discussions reveal that PELTers frequently 
participate in PD programs provided by 
MoET and DoET. They are even active in 
undertaking PD programs because they can see 
positive impacts of PD engagement on their 
professional improvements and because they 
have strong personal needs for development. 
With regard to the provision, it seems that 
they benefit much from PD providers who do 
not neglect PELTers’ ‘remote’ work locations. 
The provision aligns with the NFL Project’s 
objectives and from a positive perspective; 
we argue that PD engagement helps raise 
PELTer’s awareness of the current foreign 
language policy and the entailed innovation 
in English language teaching. Despite a range 
of challenges, namely financial and logistical 
support as well as work and time conflicts, 
141VNU Journal of Foreign Studies, Vol.35, No.1 (2019) 131-142
PELTers express their willingness to further 
undertake PD if they have opportunities. They 
wish to attend PD of high quality, practicality 
and relevance. They also mention need-based 
programs that consider their teaching contexts 
and teaching time schedule. The topics of 
their greatest interest are teaching pedagogy 
with real-timed micro-teaching and more 
demonstration delivered by qualified master 
trainers and their peers. 
As we can only provide our initial data 
collection and analysis in a PD program 
in one province, this research tends to have 
limitations regarding restricted time and 
generalisability. In stages that follow, we are 
going to analyse data sources collected from 
varied geographical locations and across 
a range of education levels. This paper; 
therefore, contributes our understanding of 
PD for Vietnamese teachers in general and 
PELTers in particular. Inquiries of our large-
scaled research go beyond a mere description 
of PD contexts, aiming to redefine the way 
EFL teachers’ PD in Vietnam has been 
interpreted to date and seek to inform its future 
trajectories. These inquiries, under the goals 
of the NFL Project, address PD alignment at 
different policy levels and PD stakeholders’ 
perspectives, especially teachers’ voice in 
EFL education and teacher education. 
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GIÁO VIÊN TIẾNG ANH TIỂU HỌC 
VỚI VẤN ĐỀ THAM GIA PHÁT TRIỂN CHUYÊN MÔN 
Nguyễn Thị Thơm Thơm, Phạm Thị Thanh Thủy
Trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ, ĐHQGHN, Phạm Văn Đồng, Cầu Giấy, Hà Nội, Việt Nam
Tóm tắt: Phát triển chuyên môn (PTCM) cho giáo viên là một trong những nhiệm vụ trọng 
tâm để cải cách giáo dục ở nhiều quốc gia. Chủ đề này thu hút sự quan tâm của nhiều học giả 
như Avalos (2011), Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin (2011), Le (2002) và Whitehouse (2011). 
Tuy vậy, trong bối cảnh triển khai Đề án Ngoại ngữ Quốc gia, việc giáo viên tiếng Anh ở Việt 
Nam, đặc biệt ở bậc tiểu học, tham gia PTCM chưa được nghiên cứu đầy đủ. Chúng tôi sử dụng 
nghiên cứu phương pháp kết hợp tìm hiểu quan điểm và kinh nghiệm tham gia PTCM của giáo 
viên tiếng Anh tiểu học (GVTATH). Chúng tôi tiến hành khảo sát 68 giáo viên và phỏng vấn 05 
giáo viên tại một tỉnh miền bắc Việt Nam. Dữ liệu thu thập được chúng tôi phân tích theo 5 mảng 
chính: (i) lý do GVTATH tham gia PTCM; (ii) các hình thức và chủ đề PTCM của họ; (iii) lợi ích 
của việc PTCM; (iv) các lĩnh vực PTCM GVTATH muốn tham gia; và (v) các yếu tố tác động đến 
việc PTCM của họ. Chúng tôi cũng tìm hiểu một số cách thức PTCM hiệu quả mà GVTATH gợi 
ý. Hy vọng bài viết này sẽ giúp ích cho các nhà nghiên cứu ngoại ngữ, nhà hoạch định chính sách, 
các trường sư phạm và giáo viên tiếng Anh bậc tiểu học.
Từ khóa: phát triển chuyên môn, giáo viên tiếng Anh, giảng dạy tiếng Anh bậc tiểu học