Sự hình thành bản ngã nghề nghiệp của một giáo viên việt nam dạy tiếng anh trong hai năm đầu giảng dạy

4 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN THU THÚY THE CONSTRUCTION OF PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY BY A VIETNAMESE EFL TEACHER IN THE FIRST TWO-YEAR PERIOD OF TEACHING: A CASE STUDY (Sự hình thành ngã nghề nghiệp giáo viên Việt Nam dạy tiếng Anh hai năm đầu giảng dạy) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 HA NOI – 2021 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES TRẦN THU THÚY THE CONSTRUCTION OF PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY BY A VIETNAMESE EFL TEACHER IN THE FIRST TWO-YEAR PERIOD OF TEACHING: A CASE STUDY (Sự hình thành ngã nghề nghiệp giáo viên Việt Nam dạy tiếng Anh hai năm đầu giảng dạy) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Supervisor: Prof Dr Hoàng Văn Vân HA NOI – 2021 DECLARATION I hereby certify that the Master’s thesis entitled “The Construction of professional identity by a Vietnamese EFL teacher in the first two-year period of teaching: A case study” is the work of my own for the fulfillment of the M.A thesis requirement at the Vietnam National University of Ha Noi, University of Languages and International Studies All cited works in the thesis are referenced as required Ha Noi, June 15th, 2021 Signature Trần Thu Thúy i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS On the completion of this thesis, I wish to express my gratitude to my supervisor, participant, friends and family First and foremost, I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to my research supervisor, Prof Dr Hoang Van Van, for his professional advice and timely encouragement As a senior researcher, he enthusiastically offered navigating suggestions without which my thesis could have strayed from the right track Without his invaluable guidance, the thesis would be far from complete Secondly, my sincere and warmest thanks go to Ms Ha for her kind help in a long time, which profoundly enhanced the quality of this thesis Last but not least, I would like to thank my family and friends who supported me during the research with their love and encouragement Without their constant support, the thesis wouldn’t be completed ii ABSTRACT This thesis reports on a qualitative study that examines the construction of the professional identity of a small-scaled, in-depth single-case study-a Vietnamese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher working in Hanoi during her first two-year period of teaching Basing on Wenger’s (1998) theory of identity construction, the thesis examines the lived experiences of this Vietnamese EFL teacher in her learning and teaching experiences through her narratives The thesis results support Wenger's theory of identity building as a dual cycle of meaning negotiation and identification, which is constructed by engagement, alignment, and imagination The thesis also explores that personal background and contextual factors make a significant contribution to the construction and reconstruction of teacher’s professional identity iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS vi LIST OF TABLE vi CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the study 1.2.Aims and objectives of the study 1.3 Research method 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Significance of the study 1.6 Organization of the study CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Identity 2.2 Teachers’ professional identity 2.3 Previous research on teachers’ professional identity construction 2.4 The limitations of previous research on teachers’ professional identity construction 13 CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY 15 3.1 Theoretical framework of identity construction 16 3.2 Context of study 18 3.2.1 Landscape of teaching English in Vietnam 18 3.2.2 Participant and setting of the study 21 3.2.3 Rationale for sampling: Details into Ha’s background 22 iv 3.3 The Research genre: Case study 23 3.4 Data collection method 24 3.4.1 Narrative inquiry 24 3.5 Data analysis procedure 24 CHAPTER IV: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 26 4.1 Findings 26 4.1.1 From lower secondary to upper secondary school: The “Deaf-andDumb” English learner 26 4.1.2 In university: The suffering newcomer 27 4.1.3 From uncooperative to cooperative co-worker 28 4.1.4 Social integration 29 4.1.5 The subject matter expert 30 4.1.6 The uncertain teacher – student relationship 30 4.2 Discussion 31 4.2.1 Engagement 32 4.2.2 Imagination 33 4.2.3 Alignment 34 4.2.4 Negotiation of meanings 34 4.2.5 Personal background and contextual factors 35 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION 37 Summary of findings 37 Pedagogical implications 38 3.Limitations of the study and suggestion for further studies 39 REFERENCES 40 APPENDIXES I-XII v LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS EFL: English as a Foreign Language IELTS: International English Language Testing System TOEFL: Test of English as a Foreign Language TOEIC: Test of English for International Communication ULIS: University of Languages and International Studies VNU: Vietnam National University LIST OF TABLE Table 2.1 Overview of the studies on professional identity formation vi CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION In this chapter, some brief information about the study is provided Six main points presented are (1) rationale of the study, (2) aims and objectives of the study, (3) research method, (4) scope of the study, (5) significance of the study, (6) organization of the study 1.1 Rationale of the study Foreign language teachers are not only seen as teaching practitioners performing in their own world, but also as social entities that are in constant interaction with and under influence of various socio-cultural and sociopolitical elements One is the complex status of World Englishes that results in the questioning of the status of native and non-native English speaker teachers The interplay and negotiation between these factors and teachers’ own learning experience, teaching beliefs and teaching practices is one of the factors that infuences the process of how EFL teachers construct their professional identity Although teachers’ professional identity has become of considerable interest to general education researchers and scholars worldwide, it has only recently emerged as an important subtopic within the field of bilingual and second/ foreign language teacher education (Beijaard, Meijer &Verloop, 2004) However, in Vietnam the issue has not been recieved much attention (Le, 2013) This leads to the reason why the study is conducted 1.2.Aims and objectives of the study This paper aims at exploring various factors that construct the professional identity of a Vietnamese EFL teacher in her first two-year period of teaching and how these factors interact with each other in reconstructing the teacher’s professional identity In order to realize this, the study attempts to answer the following questions: How is the Vietnamese EFL teacher’s professional identity constructed in her first two-year of teaching? What factors contribute to the construction of the Vietnamese EFL teacher’s professional identities in her first two-year of teaching? How these factors interact with each other in their identity construction process? 1.3 Research method A qualitative research approach was selected to be used in the form of a small-scaled, in-depth single-case study The research instrument was narrative inquiry 1.4 Scope of the study The research is confined to the study of one Vietnamese EFL teacher’s construction of her professional identity and factors that effect the process of her professional identity construction As a single case study, the research does not intend to generalize its findings 1.5 Significance of the study The study seeks to shed more light on the discourse of professional identification of teachers in the sense of Vietnam – in which little work of the same kind has been conducted The specific case study is not intended to generalize its findings; rather, the results are subject to debate and acceptance by those of the same interest Furthermore, this study also serves as a reference guide for teacher educators in training potential teachers for their cause It will help them to see the complexities of the development of teacher identity 21 Holland, D., C Cain, W Lachicotte, and D Skinner Jr (1998) Identity and agency in cultural worlds Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press 22 Kelchtermans, G (1994) De professionele ontwikkeling van leerkrachten basisonderwijs vanuit het biografisch perspectief (The professional development of elementary teachers from the biographical perspective) Leuven: University Press 23 Kerby, A (1991) Narrative and the self Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press 24 Le Van Canh (2013) Native-English-Speaking Teachers’ construction of professional identity in an EFL context: a case of Vietnam The journal of Asia TEFL 25 Mavetera, N., & Kroeze, J H (2009) Practical considerations in grounded theory research Sprouts: Working Papers on Information Systems, 9(32) Retrieved February 22, 2010 from the World Wide Web: http://sprouts.aisnet.org/9-32 26 McCormick, C B., & Pressley, M (1997) Educational psychology: Learning, instruction, assessment New York: Longman 27 Mead, G.J (1934) Mind, self and society Chicago: University of Chicago Press 28 Mishler, E G (1999) Storylines: Craft artists’ narratives of identity Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press 29 Norton, B (2000) Identity and language learning: Gender, ethnicity, and educational change Harlow, England: Pearson Education 30 Sternberg, R J., & Horvath, J A (1995) A prototype view of expert teaching Educational Researcher, 24(6), 9-17 42 31 Strauss, A., & Corbin, J (1998) Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory ( 2nd ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage 32 Stuart, C., & Thurlow, D (2000) Making it their own: Preservice teachers' experiences, beliefs, and classroom practices Teacher Education, 51(2), 113-121 33 Suddaby, R (2006) What grounded theory is not Academy of Management Journal, 49(4), 633-642 34 Tsui, A B M (2007) Complexities of identity formation: Anarrative inquiry of an EFL teacher TESOL Quarterly, 41(4), 657-680 35 Van de Berg, R (2002) Teachers’ meanings regarding educational practice Review of Educational Research 72(4), 577-625 36 Volkmann, M J., & Anderson, M A (1998) Creating professional identity: Dilemmas and metaphors of a first-year chemistry teacher Science Education, 82(3), 293–310 37 Wah Tan, T (1997) Professional development and perceptions of professional identity amongst some teachers in a school for mentally retarded children Paper presented at the 8th conference of the International Study Association on Teacher Thinking, Kiel, Germany 38 Wenger, E (1998) Communities of practice: Learning, meaning and identity Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press 39 Xu, H (2013) From the imagined to the practice: A case study on an EFL teachers’ professional identity change in China Teaching and Teacher Education, 31,79-86 43 APPENDIXES Appendix 1: Journal entry Question: Can you tell me about your personal background? When did you start learning English? How was a typical English lesson, at lower secondary and upper secondary school? Answer: I was born to a poor family in Bac Ninh province My parents have four children, three girls and one boy I am the oldest one My parents are both farmers and they have to a lot of jobs to feed the family When I was a kid, my parents were very busy, they did not have time to take care of us in terms of our studies Therefore, we had to study by ourselves However, all of us were good at school At grade 5, I won the second prize in Vietnamese Contest in my province I started learning English at grade 6th Normally, an English lesson was something like this: first, the teacher read a dialogue in the textbook to show how it should be read; second, students found if there were any new words in the dialogue; next, the teacher wrote down new words and its meaning on the board; after that, the teacher broke the conversation into smaller ones and invited some students to translate into Vietnamese In the next part, the teacher illustrated a grammar point on the board For example, the present simple tense: S + V(s/es) (+) She works in a hospital (-) She doesn’t work in a hospital (?) Does she work in a hospital? Finally, the whole class silently did exercises in the textbook, which were all to review vocabulary and grammar knowledge We were never taught to write, to speak English, we also never listened to English on a tape or real I English native speakers However, English was new to us, and we loved it We loved to learn new words in our ways “Delete” was pronounced “Đe-lete xóa”, “teacher” was pronounced “tít-chờ giáo”, “student” – “sờ-tiuđừn học sinh”, etc In my class, being a good English learner helped win others’ praise and admiration and I was one of the most outstanding students I was chosen to the gifted class for Math-Literature-English students at upper secondary school There, I were taught English as the way lower secondary teachers taught The difference was that in the English lessons, I learned more vocabulary, more complex grammatical structures The reading comprehension texts were longer and more difficult with more questions My upper secondary school held extra classes compulsorily in every afternoon in order to push the students to pass the National Entrance Exam for university We had to a lot of drilled exercises I wanted to become a teacher but I didn’t like doing the same thing over and over again like my teachers did in class I thought that I would make my lessons interesting.” II Appendix 2: Journal entry Question: What’s about your Entrance Exam? Any difficulties when studying in university? How could you overcome your difficulties? Answer: When choosing the university in the Entrance Exam, I was advised to choose some institutions However, Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies was my dream I applied for Faculty of English Teaching Methodology, luckily, I passed the exam Year was tough for me I started university at nothing regarding to speaking and listening skills Most of what teachers said in English, their instructions and explanations, I couldn’t understand Therefore, I couldn’t catch up with what was going on in class For example, in Listening class, my classmates were very quick, and told the teacher what was right after she paused the player, which left me no time to link the words I heard together That’s why I didn’t enjoy school time much Moreover, group work was new to me I never did that before Here, we could select our own teams, then things went worse for me when I found myself not as good as my teammates However, I also realized that I could learn much from them In year 2, I started to think more positively I tried to speak English as much as possible in discussion time in class At home, I would let me in “English environment” The tape played anytime With the help from my friends, I learnt much from English speaking webs and programs In year 3, I decided to participate in an English speaking club The club opened at the weekend There, participants could only use English to communicate There were a lot of exciting discussions with foreigners and participants As a result, my speaking and listening skills were enormously upgraded Especially, I felt more confident when speaking English III I remember, there was one time the teacher asked us what we thought about what made a good teacher I thought that, a good teacher needs to be good at her/his subject He/ She could answer most of the questions from students Moreover, a good English teacher should speak English very well IV Appendix 3: Journal entry Question: Let’s talk about your teaching internship What did you experience there? What lessons did you learn from your teaching internship? Answer: My teaching internship took place in months At first, I was awkward and unsure of myself I wasn’t sure what my supervisor would think, and I worried about how my students would perceive this teacher who didn’t look old enough to teach In some first weeks, I was so nervous that I didn’t get out of the teacher table’s corner Most of the time I stood there behind the table I thought that being well-prepared would help me confident Therefore, during my internship time, I worked very hard Before each lesson, I spent a lot of time preparing the teaching plan, preparing all of the needed materials I looked for activities that my students would enjoy However, there were always things that would go wrong Sometimes my students completed activities quicker than planned or vice versa Sometimes the technology would fail Sometimes, they didn’t enjoy the activities as I expected One of the most important lessons that I learned was the importance of feedback During my teaching internship, I wanted to find ways to improve my teaching skills I asked my supervisor for advice I also got feedback from students Teaching internship was a great experience It had its ups and downs, but I became a better teacher by working to make the most of my experience and looking for opportunities to learn V Appendix 4: Journal entry Question: Where did you teach after graduation? Please give me detailed information about your working environment in the first year of teaching After one month graduating, I worked as a full-time English teacher at a public kindergarten school-a partner of ABC center I taught there from Monday to Friday for kids from to years old The teaching time is 25% foreigner teacher – 75% Vietnamese teacher, it means in lessons per month per class, children learn lessons with foreigners, lessons with Vietnamese teacher English center’s headquater is in Ha noi, and the its branches are in Bac Ninh, Ha Hoa and Ha Noi suburbans ABC employs about 80 teachers, with 20 foreigner teachers from Canada, USA, South Africa, Holland, UK, Germany There are two main curriculums: English for kids and English for teenagers Some first months at the kindergarten school were really a nightmare In the English room, the teachers left 20-25 kids with me They were talkative (in Vietnamese), screamed, some cried Some of them got attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder – ADHD, they ran around the class without paying attention I couldn’t control the class How could I apply the teaching methods for these kids??? I felt dissapointed I decided to talk to the vice director about that She said that the center paid some percent for the homeroom teachers therefore they had responsibility to help me control the class From then on, homeroom teachers stayed in the English room when I taught However, I started to notice their uncomfortable face And more importantly, I heard that homeroom teachers would retell all things happened in English class to the school’s director I thought that if they didn’t like me, they could tell lie about me to the headmaster Therefore, I thought maybe I should socialize with them I started making friends and VI talking with them Rather than eating lunch in my room every day to catch up on work, I went to the lunch room and chatted with other teachers I talked to them on the playground and used the time to get to know others Sometimes I would go out for a meal with them Gradually, kids were well-behaved and the homeroom teachers also helped me control the class I could hold many funny activities for my kids and we had happy time together VII Appendix 5: Journal entry Question: What did you think about your expatriate colleages? Any unforgetable memory with them? Answer: At my public kindergarten school, in lessons per month per class, children learn lessons with foreigners, lessons with Vietnamese teacher I worked with an expatriate teacher, Shane from Ireland We met twice a month When he was at class, he had responsibility for the teaching job, I just helped him with the class management and the homeroom teachers could be off Shane was a very active teacher His games got my students over-excited However, sometimes they were out of control That’s when I was expected to put them in order again But I only reminded the kids to be quiet and well-behaved when Shane was not talking I thought it was to show that I respected him, that I would not interrupt him when he’s talking by yelling at the students But it seemed that Shane wanted to make my class a chaotic bunch! I sort of feeling like an outsider of whole community with no voice! Unfortunately, one time, when Shane was playing with kids in noisy atmosphere, the headmaster of the kindergarten came by She reminded me to keep the class in order and not too noisy, not to affect other classes Well, it seemed the problem was from me, couldn’t control the class That time, I shared with my colleagues in other schools- also partners of ABC My colleagues shared the same problem with me I also talked to ABC director However, it is believed that native speakers are superior to nonnative speaker The director said that Shane was a native speaker, hardworking, never came late and never cancelled classes, so she continued to recruite him I thought that I had to talk to him Fortunately, Shane seemed happy with that We started to talk more, shared more I shared with him what I found out about VIII the kids and what happened in my solo days with them He shared he’s just came to Viet Nam for few months and didn’t know much Therefore, I showed him some famous dishes in Ha Noi that he should try, and some beautiful places that he should check in Surprisingly, he said he loved Ha Noi, loved Viet Nam He would get married to a Vietnamese woman and wanted to live long here Then I felt free and also joined class activities that made me an insider of the whole community IX Appendix 6: Journal entry Question: What’s about the second year of teaching? Have you had any obstacles? How you get over? Answer: After the first year of teaching, I wanted to challenge myself with older kids I applied to HV school- a private secondary school in Ha Noi and have taught students at grade 6th My English team has 10 teachers: expatriate teachers and Vietnamese teachers In the mornings, I teach them according to the curriculum of Ministry of Education In the afternoons, my students learn with expatriate teachers, the English communication cirriculum, I’ve been their teaching assistant Everything was new and I knew that I would have rough days Back to university, I learned a lot from group works and pair works I rarely applied this method to my kindergarten students because they were so young Therefore, I hoped that it would work out for my older kids However, at first, they didn’t like it They didn’t want to cooperate with each other I found out the reason why they just wanted to work individually was that they were strangers, just met when the term began Their connection was loose Therefore, I realized that I needed to be flexible When creating lessons, I prepared for changes I figured out alternative activities in order to help my days go as smoothly as possible and allow students to gain the most from the lessons I believe that sharing would help me a lot when I’m an inexperienced teacher to older kids As I talked to other teachers about lessons that I was working on, they shared their teaching experience They had plenty of suggestions for X activities that I could use I loved the tips and ideas that they could provide to help me grow as a teacher XI Appendix 7: Journal entry Question: What you think about your students? Have you had any obstacles? Answer: At first, I mostly interacted with my students in the classroom, although social network has become popular Therefore I knew little about their personal lives I would like to know more, but I was afraid that it would break my seriousness For me, a new teacher should be serious-looking whose main job is to help students make progress in English Because my facebook account was full of playful pictures with friends and silly status about life, I didn’t want if they knew I was immature One day, about months after beginning the 1st term, when I entered the classroom, Mr Liem was there, sitting in the corner of the class He was one of our school’s leaders He said he was there to observe and evaluate my teaching They didn’t even give me a notice in advance Anyway I tried my best I tried to interact with the students as much as I could Fortunately, my students were very cooperative and active that day They gave me more confidence to present the lesson After the class, he gave me some feedbacks and advice I was highly evaluated After my class was observed, there has been some changes in my mind I feel my students are very lovely and I feel thankful for their cooperation Therefore, I am closer to them I start to feel like I am a part of the class, I’ve been having good-time with them We go out for milk tea, picnic, excursion We share personal stories I feel like we are close friends I feel being loved by my students I think I must have responsibility to help them learn English, not just try to answer their questions I have prepared my lesson plans even more carefully and searche for richer and interesting information before each lesson I see that they have XII enjoyed my lessons and the test results are not bad I don’t know whether I will be assigned to teach them in the next year, but anyway, I love them XIII ... IN THE FIRST TWO-YEAR PERIOD OF TEACHING: A CASE STUDY (Sự hình thành ngã nghề nghiệp giáo viên Việt Nam dạy tiếng Anh hai năm đầu giảng dạy) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching... teaching English in Vietnam At its Six National Congress (1986), the Vietnamese Communist Party introduced a sweeping economic reform known as "Renovation of Vietnam," opening Vietnam's door to the... identity by a Vietnamese EFL teacher in the first two-year period of teaching: A case study” is the work of my own for the fulfillment of the M.A thesis requirement at the Vietnam National University