Second Language Teacher Education in Response to Local Needs: Preservice Teachers of English Learning to Teach Diverse Learners in Communities

Second Language Teacher Education in Response to Local Needs: Preservice Teachers of English Learning to Teach Diverse Learners in Communities CHINH DUC NGUYEN University of Danang Danang, Vietnam TU CAM THI DANG Hue University of Foreign Languages Hue, Vietnam Second language teacher education (SLTE) has changed its focus from cognitive to sociocultural perspectives By considering located SLTE and community learning, this qualitative study was conducted to explore how preservice teachers of English as a foreign language learned to teach in response to learning needs in a Vietnamese city Data sources for the study were written assignments produced by preservice teachers and in-depth interviews with them Through their engagement in the local community, the preservice teachers identified nine groups of adult learners who were not able to gain access to English learning in the formal schooling system Those learners sought to learn English not only to meet their personal and professional needs but also to contribute to socioeconomic development of the local community Based on the findings regarding the local learners’ needs and characteristics, the preservice teachers developed pedagogical practices appropriate to each specific group of learners and suggested that university-based SLTE programmes should embrace diverse learners and community-based teacher learning The study substantiates the concept of located SLTE and offers some implications for SLTE in response to local needs doi: 10.1002/tesq.551 I n line with the sociocultural turn in education in general, second language teacher education (SLTE) has undergone a marked transformation (Burns & Richards, 2009) For decades, teachers were simply viewed as technicians who were supposed to acquire knowledge in 404 TESOL QUARTERLY Vol 0, No , 0000 © 2019 TESOL International Association training courses (Johnson, 2009a; C D Nguyen 2017b) However, teacher learning is, from a sociocultural perspective, inclined towards social practice, which is simply understood as “a dynamic social activity that is situated in physical and social contexts, and distributed across persons, tools, and activities” (Johnson, 2006, p 237) Both research and practice in teacher education have been marked by a number of transformative approaches to teacher learning, such as identity construction, reflective practice, and collaborative teaching Communitybased teaching learning, which refers to learning to teach by participating in communities, has been recognised as contributing to the transformation of the field (Farnsworth, 2010) Although increasingly integrated into teacher education for other disciplines, communitybased teacher learning has had limited impact on SLTE (Sharkey, 2012) Against this backdrop, more research is needed to explore in what ways teachers of a second language (L2) develop their knowledge and practice of teaching by being engaged in communities Together with transformations in practice, SLTE today tends to advocate a locally responsive curriculum, which supports teachers’ development of knowledge and pedagogy appropriate to local contexts (Hawkins, 2011; Sharkey, 2012) Educating L2 teachers in this way is known as located SLTE, whose core idea is to prepare L2 teachers to teach in ways that are relevant to a local context on the basis of a system of locally responsive practices (Johnson, 2009a) In this study, we aimed to study located SLTE in the context of Vietnam by selecting a city in Vietnam (with the pseudonym Central City) Preservice teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) in this city and throughout the country undergo training in universities where they are prepared to teach learners in formal schools in accordance with the national curriculum and prescribed textbooks Though educated in this way, very few can find a teaching post in the government-run schooling system because the quota of teachers is limited (Nha, 2017) As a result, a large number of teacher graduates who still wish to pursue a teaching career tend to teach learners outside the formal schooling system, especially adults who need English for practical and professional purposes According to Bui and Nguyen (2016), there has been increasing demand for English from various social and professional groups throughout Vietnam This reality has implications for SLTE in Vietnam today More specifically, preparing future teachers to teach in communities as well as in schools is considered a practical solution and an aim of located SLTE This study was conducted to explore how preservice teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) candidates learned to teach adult learners through their field trips to communities More specifically, it aimed to examine (1) preservice teachers’ exploration TESOL QUARTERLY 405 of the English learning needs in local communities and (2) the pedagogical practices in response to local needs that preservice teachers gained from community-based teacher learning The study also aimed to highlight (3) how educators/teacher trainers used preservice teachers’ community-based learning experiences for innovating universitybased SLTE LITERATURE REVIEW Community-Based Teacher Learning A community-based approach to teacher education, whereby “teacher learning is situated in the interactions that take place outside the formal school contexts” (Farnsworth, 2010, p 1481), has been employed in a large number of teacher preparation programmes (Harfitt, 2018; C D Nguyen & Zeichner, 2019; Payne & Zeichner, 2017; Sharkey, Clavijo Olarte, & Ramırez, 2016) The widespread implementation of this approach indicates the innovation and progress of the field in shifting teacher learning to sociocultural perspectives The primary reason for advocating this approach is the persistent disconnection between university coursework and school practice (CochranSmith et al., 2016) By participating in local communities, teachers have a chance to work with learners as well as other involved parties, such as school leaders, teachers, and students’ parents (Payne & Zeichner, 2017; Sharkey et al., 2016) In addition to practical knowledge, experiences gained from community fieldwork assist teachers in contextualising students’ lives as part of the dynamic of the greater community (Hallman & Burdick, 2015; Zeichner, Bowman, Guillen, & Napolitan, 2016) Therefore, community teachers are able to understand the culture of communities and learners’ identities, thereby developing pedagogical practices appropriate to the learners and localities (Murrell, 2001) The benefits of learning to teach in boundary zones outside of school is succinctly expressed as follows: “They [preservice teachers] can encounter and engage with different perspectives and forms of knowledge rather than those they typically accessed in schools and university-based spaces” (Zeichner, Payne, & Brayko, 2015, p 7) For the mission of transforming teacher education, Payne and Zeichner (2017) suggested an epistemological shift in teacher education whereby community knowledge is combined with the academic knowledge provided in institutions of teacher education That is, preservice teachers learn knowledge and skills from three sources: university classrooms, schools, and the community setting Drawing on the 406 LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES benefits of engagement in community-based learning to preservice teachers, Zeichner et al (2015) put forward the concept of hybrid spaces for teacher education at higher education institutions, where “academic, school-based, and community-based knowledge come together in less hierarchical and haphazard ways to support teacher learning” (p 3) Despite the aforementioned benefits, community-based teacher learning has received scant attention from both research and practice in SLTE (Sharkey, 2012) Because alternative learning experiences are increasingly encouraged in SLTE, we need more research on alternative models such as community-based learning, which may in turn inform the practice of SLTE today (Wright, 2010) In addition to limited influence of community-based learning on SLTE, this approach has been implemented mainly in Western countries, especially the United States (Mills & Ballantyne, 2016) For the agenda of transformation in teacher education, community-based teacher learning has been employed in other countries, such as Colombia (Sharkey, 2012; Sharkey et al., 2016) and Hong Kong (Harfitt, 2018) In Vietnam, teacher education is still grounded in transmission models whereby teachers learn through the provision of knowledge from lecturers (C D Nguyen, 2017b) Therefore, community-based learning is welcomed as innovation in teacher preparation for L2 and other fields in Vietnam (Hamano, 2008; C D Nguyen & Zeichner, 2019; L Nguyen, 2014) This research study was therefore conducted to engage preservice TESOL candidates in this innovative practice of teacher learning Located Second Language Teacher Education Teacher learning today is not confined merely to the locus of “instructed teacher-training environments” but expanded to “the wider influences of socialization evident in individual development” (Freeman, 2009, p 15) On this premise of transformation, research on SLTE places a great weight on the local contexts in which teachers and learners are situated Johnson (2009a) refers to this trend or this approach to teacher learning as located second language teacher education: “Both the content and activities of L2 teacher education must take into account the social, political, economic, and cultural histories that are ‘located’ in the contexts where L2 teachers learn and teach” (p 114) For the importance of local contexts that shape teacher education and eventually students’ learning, Hawkins (2011) argues that the pedagogy and curriculum of SLTE “must be responsive to local contexts and contingencies” (p 3) Basically, the concept of located SLTE is TESOL QUARTERLY 407 grounded in sociocultural or situated perspectives on teacher learning because teachers and teaching are socially, historically, culturally, and politically situated within a local–global or micro–macro system (Hawkins, 2011; Johnson, 2009a, 2009b; C D Nguyen, 2017a) From the perspective of located SLTE, a large body of research has explored teacher learning in local contexts A salient theme concerns how L2 teachers constructed and enacted their identities in response to the social, cultural, and educational conditions of local contexts (Duff & Uchida, 1997; C D Nguyen, 2017b; Sayer, 2012; Simon-Maeda, 2004) In the Vietnamese EFL context, for instance, teachers’ construction of identity specific to local reality was also foregrounded (Dang, 2013; C D Nguyen, 2016) In addition to focusing on L2 teachers’ identities, research studies have highlighted how local teachers developed their pedagogies appropriate to the schooling system or locally educational discourses More specifically, EFL teachers in a variety of localities, especially in Asia, showed their resistance to the Western import of teaching methods or curriculum innovation imposed by policymakers (Hayes, 2009; Hu, 2005; Liu & Xu, 2011; Tsui, 2007; Xu & Connelly, 2009) From their perspective, the imported pedagogies and curriculums were inappropriate for both themselves as teachers and their students Locally appropriate SLTE in this sense, as pointed out by Johnson (2009a, p 114), is not to force L2 teachers to conform to “hegemonic practices” imposed on them, but to give them spaces in which they create pedagogical values in accordance with local discourses To date, the notion of located SLTE has been embedded in the umbrella concept of a sociocultural perspective on SLTE The substantiation or elaboration of the concept mainly drew on the research literature that has foregrounded teachers’ resistance to pedagogical practices or reform imposed on them and their struggles for what is deemed locally appropriate (Kumaravadivelu, 2006) Against this backdrop, located SLTE necessitates a more comprehensive and further examination from a different angle rather than locally responsive pedagogies only That is, besides preparing teachers to be able to construct teaching methods appropriate to learners and their learning culture in a local context, located SLTE engages teachers in broader issues such as preparing teachers who would be able to teach L2 for community development From a socioeconomic point of view, SLTE needs to prepare preservice teachers to work with a diversity of learners and a diversity of needs This highlights the role of language education, especially English as a global language, in socioeconomic development in local contexts today (Bui & Nguyen, 2016; Ricento, 2015; Seargeant & Erling, 2013; Walsh, 2006) With regard to social needs, the demand for English competence comes from learners of various ages and with different purposes (Cummins & Davison, 2007) However, English language instruction still, to 408 LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES some extent, falls short of catering to a diverse population of learners Our literature review indicates that SLTE, whether from a sociocultural or located perspective, has not taken learner diversity into account Taking a course book for TESOL methodologies as an example, we can see that the concept of “language learners” introduced to teachers is still general with a classification of learners into “young,” “adolescent,” and “adult” (Harmer, 2007) Thus, SLTE should expand to other learners rather than focus mostly on students at school This is why Kumaravadivelu (2012) calls for reform in L2 teacher education for a global society That is, learners as well as their needs and motivation should be addressed in relation to macro-level, socioeconomic, and educational contexts as well as micro-level matters Located SLTE in this sense moves towards preparing L2 teachers to be able to teach a variety of students in response to socioeconomic development of a specific locality This direction is also congruent with the current reform of higher education, which seeks to foster graduates’ employability in the labour market (L H N Tran, 2017) As explained by the National Foreign Language Project 2020 (Decision No 1400, 2008), Vietnamese citizens have to learn English to enhance national and regional employability and be able to communicate effectively in global job markets To achieve this goal, English language education needs to attend to various learners and their needs Thus, the current study aimed at engaging preservice teachers of TESOL in exploring various needs for learning English in a Vietnamese city On the premise of located SLTE and community-based learning, the current study addresses the following research questions (RQs): What were the English language learning needs in local communities explored by TESOL preservice teachers? Based on their community-based learning experiences, what pedagogical practices did the preservice teachers construct in response to local needs? To what extent did the preservice teachers’ community-based learning inform changes in the TESOL/SLTE curriculum at the university? STUDY METHODOLOGY Participants and Context of the Study This qualitative study was conducted at a university in Vietnam with the pseudonym Central University (CU) CU has an established history TESOL QUARTERLY 409 of educating foreign language teachers, especially TESOL candidates The TESOL programme offered at CU takes a maximum of years, the standard for the majority of undergraduate programmes in Vietnamese higher education The curriculum is prescribed by the Ministry of Education and Training through the Curriculum Framework (see Appendix A) Upon graduation, teacher candidates (TCs) are awarded a bachelor’s degree and are able to teach English in senior secondary schools Similar to other institutions in Vietnam, the TESOL programme at Central University aims to prepare teachers for teaching English in the system of formal schooling based on a national curriculum, notably prescribed textbooks In particular, preservice teachers are provided with knowledge and practice of teaching EFL to students up to 18 years old Based on our experience as lecturers and researchers in SLTE, the needs of learners beyond the ages for formal schooling have not been addressed in any single course of the programme despite a great demand for English from this population As such, we used our initiative to introduce located SLTE in Central University, a typical institution for TESOL/SLTE The participants of this study were 51 TCs who started their undergraduate study of TESOL in 2013 and finished in 2017 The majority of the participants chose TESOL because of their love of English and teaching, and the TESOL programme at CU was an initial preparation for their teaching trajectory At the time of investigation, the participants ranged from 21 to 23 years of age, and approximately half had 13 years of EFL learning experience and the rest 10 years Language Teaching Methodologies (LTMs) is one of the core courses of the TESOL curriculum and aims to provide candidates with theories and general principles of L2 learning In particular, the course includes four modules: Insights Into L2 Learners, Reasons for L2 Learning, What L2 Learners Should Learn, and Methods and Approaches to L2 Teaching The TCs took this course in the first semester of their third year A field trip to a local community was designed as midterm assessment of the course, which consisted of 40% of the total grade The TCs’ participation in local communities through their field trips is regarded as community-based teacher learning, whereby teachers not only develop knowledge and skills but also establish their relationship in local communities (Payne & Zeichner, 2017) Data Collection Data sources for this study included written assignments produced by preservice teachers and interviews with them The detail of collecting each source is described below 410 LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES In the first week of the semester, the lecturer of the LTMs course, who was the main investigator, briefed the TCs on the midterm assessment Drawing on discussion between the lecturer and the TCs about their career prospects upon graduation (the unlikelihood of gaining a position in the school system and a trend for graduates to teach adult learners in communities), the class reached a decision on what the TCs would for their field trips to communities The TCs worked in groups of five or six for a field trip to investigate the needs of learning English in local communities Both the lecturer and the TCs agreed that priority would be given to adult learners, whose needs cannot be met in the formal schooling system Because the total number of TCs enrolled in the course was 51, nine groups were formed (three groups with five members and six groups with six members) All the groups were required to spend the first week socialising in local communities to gain an initial understanding of the learners and their needs for English instruction In the second week, the lecturer worked with all the groups to determine what category of learners would be chosen by each group of TCs After discussion and negotiation, the class reached a final decision: Each group of TCs investigated a specific category of learners during the field trip (see Table 1) To help readers easily refer to a specific group of TCs and their chosen learners for the field trip, we used the letter G with a number from to 9, followed by the category of learners in brackets For example, G1 [cyclo riders] refers to the group of TCs numbered and cyclo riders as the category of chosen learners Each group had weeks for involvement in local communities and weeks for reporting their field trip experiences in a written assignment (report) as group work, within the limit of 4,000 words, to address four guiding questions (see Table 2) With this design, TCs applied the theories provided in each module to the practice of teaching their chosen learners In addition, the designed field trip reported through a written assignment was part of the course assessment, thereby necessitating TCs’ engagement and socialisation with community members As Bieler (2012) pointed out, written assignments give TCs an opportunity to gain in-depth understanding of their teaching practice The guiding questions for both the field trip and the written assignment were developed from the four modules of LTMs (see Table 2) These guiding questions were also used as a frame for data analysis For example, drawing on theories provided in the first two modules on L2 learners and their purposes of learning L2, each group of TCs addressed the questions of who their chosen learners were and why the chosen learners wanted to learn English In the written assignment of each group, the sections addressing these two guiding questions provided the data in answer to RQ1 Similarly, modules and TESOL QUARTERLY 411 TABLE Local Learners and Their Reasons for Learning English Group of teacher candidates and their chosen category of learners Learners’ profile Job details Age [Cyclo riders]males Men earning living by transporting goods and passengers on traditional threewheeled vehicles named cyclos Chambermaids, porters, concierges, waiters, and waitresses working at small hotels Officers or employees having a full-time job in private or stateowned companies or organisations Local residents (fishermen, peasants, and shop owners) involved in homestay services in the district, known as a holiday destination to international tourists Officers in local government 35– 65 Communicating with international visitors/ passengers 26– 35 Being promoted to a position in a better hotel 30– 50 Socialising with international business partners 35– 50 Conducting simple transactions in English with international visitors Local people working in souvenir shops in Central City Over 40 20– 40 [Travellers to foreign countries] mixed [Workers in factories]males Local residents preparing for trips overseas 40– 50 Labourers working in manufacturing factories owned by foreign investors 20– 40 [Street vendors] females Local residents, mainly women, selling local produce and souvenirs to international visitors on streets 30– 50 Using English for email and basic communication Communicating and selling local products to international visitors Communicating in basic English while travelling abroad Talking to foreign supervisors and understanding their instructions Communicating and selling local products to international visitors on streets [Hotel staff]mixed [Officers/ employees]mixed [Stay-at-home learners]mixed [Officers in local government]mixed [Shop assistants] females Reasons for English learning of LTMs were linked to guiding questions and for the field trips and written assignments, which provided the data for RQ2 Once submitted by all the groups, the assignments were graded by the lecturer of LTMs, who was also the main investigator Regarding interviews, a member of each group of TCs was invited for a semistructured interview shortly after graduation, 18 months after the field trip, so that he or she was able to provide a comprehensive view on university-based teacher education in relation to the field trip and jobseeking experiences The second researcher in this study conducted nine interviews in total, one with a representative from each group of TCs These representatives were selected based on their willingness The 412 LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES interviews focused on highlighting what the TCs had learned during their engagement in local communities as well as their suggestions for transforming the TESOL teacher education programme at CU (see Appendix B) This source of data helped to answer RQ3 Researchers’ Positionality The researchers played an important role in this study As the main investigator and the lecturer of the course LTMs, the first author initiated engagement of the students in field trips to local communities as TABLE Structure of Data Collection and Analysis Written assignments reporting TCs’ field trips Module in LTMs Guiding questions Research for field trips and question written addressed assignments Insights Into L2 Learners Who is in need of English in communities?What are their learning characteristics? Why they want to learn English? What L2 Learners Should Learn What they need to be taught (e.g., language skills, materials)? Methods and Approaches to L2 Teaching What approaches and methods are appropriate to their needs? Semistructured interviews Reasons for L2 Learning Interviews TCs’ experience of community-based learning for transforming university-based SLTE Themes selected for analysis A diversity of learners (nine categories)Beyond ages for formal schooling English learning for personal or occupational purposesLearning purposes in connection with local needs Communication and communicative skillsSyllabus/ materials designated to learners’ needs Locally responsive approaches to teaching SLTE curriculum inclusive of diverse learnersCommunitybased learning incorporated into university-based SLTE Knowledge base (DarlingHammond & Bransford, 2005) Learners and learning in social contexts Curriculum and subject matter Teaching Three domains combined Note TC = teacher candidate; LTM = language teaching methodology; SLTE = second language teacher education TESOL QUARTERLY 413 They [cyclo riders] need to know English to introduce local cultures to international visitors For example, when riding them on the streets, cyclo riders can tell them things like names of historic places, local foods, and a few simple facts about our city (G1 assignment) Although street vendors not have a highly professional status, they need to participate in bringing the beauty of our city to international tourists (G9 assignment) The above extracts indicate the TCs’ awareness of the inclusion of unskilled groups such as street vendors and cyclo riders in the socioeconomic development of Central City As explained in the assignment of G9 [street vendors], there is less chance for these learners to “learn English for earning [a] living” than for highly educated professionals working in industry Attending to these underserved groups means that teaching can be socially inclusive and help to involve all the socioeconomic classes in developing the hospitality sector of the local community The TCs of G8 [workers in factories] pinpointed the potential contribution of English education in connecting the local labour force to foreign-invested businesses As explained in this group’s assignment, local residents seeking a position in these factories are required to show competency in English Therefore, an emphasis should be placed on the role of English education in developing the manufacturing sector: There is a great demand for workers with basic command of English for communicating with foreign supervisors and managers Those good at English can get pay rise and promotion easily (G8 assignment) By working with learners who were preparing to travel overseas, the TCs of G5 [officers in local government] found a high degree of mobility among local residents However, as stated in their assignment, this population of learners failed to find any suitable English classes This group of TCs also mentioned others in need of English for mobility, such as middle-aged people who were preparing for migration or work overseas More importantly, learners in this category also wanted to use English for receiving international visitors in their home city: A retired man saw a dramatic increase in international visitors to [Central] City, so he wanted to speak to welcome them (G5 assignment) TESOL QUARTERLY 419 In this case, the TCs of G5 understood the importance of English in serving local residents in terms of international mobility As preservice teachers, they also realised the significance of English and their teaching in transforming Central City into a cosmopolitan milieu Pedagogical Practices Drawn From the Community-Based Experience Drawing on their understanding of learners and their learning purposes, each group of TCs sought to find the answer to the questions of what and how to teach them The findings presented in this section, therefore, answer RQ2 regarding how the TCs developed pedagogical practices appropriate to local needs through their interactive learning with the community (see Table 3) Communication as the core of the syllabus Each group of TCs developed a syllabus for their chosen learners This syllabus was presented in each assignment as the content for teaching and learning Each group modified and adapted the theoretical background provided in the module “What to Teach L2 Learners” in accordance with the local learners’ needs In the TCs’ opinion, more weight should be placed on communication and communicative skills These two terms were found in all the submitted assignments At the same time, complicated knowledge of grammar and academic content should not be the priority It is interesting that the notion of a communication-oriented syllabus was described and substantiated in different ways, subject to the needs and characteristics of each category of learners To groups such as street vendors, cyclo riders, hotel staff, and shop assistants, teaching TABLE Pedagogical Practice in Response to Learners’ Needs Syllabus/learning content Materials Approaches to teaching • • • • • • • • • 420 Communication and communicative skills Complicated grammar and academic content not prioritised Local learners’ characteristics taken into consideration • • Available textbooks combined with local resources Job-related vocabulary Work-related vocabulary integrated with communication Friendly learning environment Teachers playing multiple roles Learner-centred practices Informal spaces of learning Flexibility in employing methods appropriate to targeted learners LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES English for communication was manifested in learners’ engagement with foreign visitors in simple conversations To have a successful conversation, as the TCs of Groups 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, and pointed out in their assignments, learners were supposed to possess a repertoire of simple sentences and high-frequency words More importantly, mutual understanding needed to be achieved: Learners have to make sure that international visitors understand what they mean and vice versa To achieve this goal, teachers should involve them in real-life communication (G6 [shop assistants] assignment) To facilitate communicative efficiency, all the groups of TCs took local learners’ characteristics into consideration More specifically, seven of the nine groups mentioned that pronunciation mistakes were more likely to be made by the learners: Most of the learners are over 40 years old, so they may have more problems with pronunciation [of English] than young learners They need to be explained about the importance of correct pronunciation in communication (G2 [hotel staff] assignment) Materials and resources tailored to local learners The resources for teaching and learning, as each group of TCs recommended, should be developed using a combination of available textbooks and local sources As an example, learning resources for the group of stayat-home learners were developed from “simple English leaflets and advertisements about local hotels or holiday services” (G4 assignment) As synthesised from the nine assignments, positive learning outcomes were highly dependent on teachers’ creativity and flexibility in developing and using materials in accordance with the learners’ needs The richest part of each group’s assignment lay in job-related vocabulary tailored to learners In this sense, locally responsive teaching was dependent on ideas and specific activities for teaching vocabulary Each group suggested a wide range of vocabulary topics that their targeted learners could use for practical purposes at work For example, lexical items in English related to local produce, food, and culture in general were introduced to street vendors and cyclo riders Similarly, skilled workers learned English words specific to machines and technology More importantly, the work-related vocabulary was integrated with communication Drawing on this combination, each group of TCs devised a range of topics for learners to engage in communication Shop assistants, for instance, learned a variety of topics as follows: TESOL QUARTERLY 421 At first, they will be taught vocabulary about local foods and products Later, they will learn how to use English for greeting customers, bargaining, introducing local products, and giving directions and instructions to international visitors (G6 assignment) Locally responsive approaches to teaching Moving to the question of how to teach, each group of TCs suggested a wide range of strategies and practices appropriate to their chosen learners To motivate the learners, all the groups found it effective to create a friendly learning environment in which the teacher played multiple roles, including “a transmitter of knowledge” (G4 assignment), “a facilitator” (G2 assignment), “a supporter” (G8 assignment), and even “a friend” (G9 assignment) Working with the group of officers in local government, the TCs of G5 understood their prior experiences of failure in English learning, thereby stressing the importance of sustaining their motivation and interest: It is important to keep them motivated and interested in learning Many of them said that they had gradually lost their interest over the course (G5 assignment) A number of activities were presented in each group’s assignment to engage learners in English lessons, such as role-play, pair work, group work and discussion Emerging from the list of suggested activities was the choice of new practices explained as “learner-centred activities” (G7 assignment) Similarly, G2 [officers] substantiated an activity proposed for their learners: The teacher let learners experience and have fun with English This way is more efficient with adults’ learning than the traditional model of teacher-fronted classroom (G2 assignment) To four groups of TCs—G2 [hotel staff], G4 [stay-at-home learners], G6 [shop assistants] and G9 [street vendors—field learning was employed for most of the course in the sense that these learners would “learn from their firsthand experience with foreigners” (G9 assignment) Interestingly, informal spaces of learning were also considered conducive to the remaining groups of learners Some of the informal, friendly learning forms were “gathering in streets for foreigners” (officers in local government), “team building” (workers in factories), and “socialising with international visitors in clubs” (travellers to 422 LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES foreign countries) An emergent model of English-speaking practice in coffee shops was highly recommended for adult learners in Central City: In [Central City], English-speaking coffees have sprung up as a trend recently The good point of these shops is that they have foreigners available there The atmosphere of speaking in coffee shops is more comfortable than that in the class Therefore, pressure is eliminated This is especially useful for those who have had bad experience with English learning or who hold such suppositions that they are too aged to learn foreign languages since they keep making mistakes (G3 [officers] assignment) Various approaches and methods were introduced to the TCs through the module “Methods and Approaches to L2 Teaching.” In translating theory into practice, each group showed their flexibility in employing a method appropriate to their targeted learners The following extract explains a decision of G5 on teaching methods for officers in local government: I don’t think a single approach or method would be efficient for learners In the course plan, we chose different methods for each learning unit Even in a lesson, the first activity may be conducted with the Direct Method, and the second with Grammar-Translation, and the last with Communicative Method Another thing I noticed is that these methods, when used in real practice, would be different from theories So teachers have to adapt a lot to their interests and characters (G5 assignment) Other groups of TCs also proposed a combination of different methods, depending on each group of learners’ purposes, educational level, and job requirements In general, the pedagogical practices proposed in each group’s assignment indicate their understanding of local learners and their ability to construct the knowledge and practice of teaching in response to local needs Community-Based Learning Experience as a Contribution to Transforming University-Based Second Language Teacher Education Drawing on their field experiences, the TCs put forward suggestions for transforming the TESOL programme at CU as presented in two themes as follows TESOL QUARTERLY 423 Second language teacher education curriculum inclusive of diverse learners As described in the context of this study, the curriculum of the selected university is required by the Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training to include certain components to ensure the consistency of similar programmes among different universities across the nation (D N Tran, Nguyen, & Nguyen, 2011) The goal of the TESOL programme at CU is to train TCs to become EFL teachers at senior secondary schools in Vietnam However, the participants in this study disapproved of such a uniform curriculum for TESOL because there was a high demand from diverse learners of English in local communities Therefore, they proposed a locally responsive TESOL curriculum In the following excerpts, two interviewees looked forward to an innovative TESOL programme that would help preservice teachers to tackle diverse groups of learners, not restricted to students in formal schools: Almost every course related to TESOL methodologies aims at learners in schools After working with a variety of learners during the field trip, I think the courses need to include such diversity Students [TCs] need to be prepared to teach those learners, not just school learners (G1 representative) If the TESOL programme includes a variety of groups of learners, students [TCs] will have more employment opportunities after graduation It also means that some groups of learners who have been long neglected like policemen or traders will somehow benefit (G7 representative) The above excerpts show the TCs’ perception of diverse English learners in Vietnam, including not only students at school but also learners such as employers, officers, taxi drivers, and traders This means that teacher education programmes at university that focus only on training preservice teachers to become English teachers at formal institutions may be insufficient To embrace diverse learners, five interviewees suggested that needs analysis should be embedded in teacher education programmes, especially in courses of language teaching methodologies: Needs analysis needs to be done for teacher preparation for English and other foreign languages This step will orient both educators and preservice teachers towards curriculum and practice For example, preservice teachers need to know their learners and what they learn English for, so they will be able to develop appropriate knowledge and practice (G6 representative) 424 LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES Needs analysis is a crucial step in curriculum design and can facilitate further development of the syllabus, teaching materials, learning activities, and tests (Cowling, 2007; Kusumoto, 2008) According to the interviewees, needs analysis was important in the TESOL programme because it resulted in teachers who were more responsive to learners’ needs In other words, needs analysis enabled them to teach different target groups of students with varied needs in learning English Community-based learning incorporated into university-based second language teacher education Together with changes in the TESOL curriculum, all of the interviewees looked forward to innovative practice Among their proposed innovative practices, communitybased learning was most prominent The interviewees reflected on their groups’ field trip experiences, stating the benefits of this model of learning to preservice teachers They also contrasted this practice of teacher learning with what was being taught to preservice teachers in CU and other institutions: What we were taught at university was very general and irrelevant to reality I think students [TCs] should be involved in a specific community like we did in our field trip so that they can develop their practice based on the educational reality of community (G7 representative) Part of their suggestion for community-based learning was pedagogical internship or teaching practicum in local communities rather than in formal schools Again, the TCs explicitly expressed their concern that a very small number of graduates worked in schools, while the majority taught adult learners from a variety of professional, social, and economic backgrounds Therefore, the interviewees, to varying degrees, expected flexibility in the teaching practicum for prospective preservice teachers: Teaching practicum should be expanded to other groups of adult learners Those who choose to teach in schools will have a teaching practicum there Others who would teach adult learners like homestay owners or hotel staff should have their own choice for practicum I mean working with their learners in a community (G4 representative) The suggestion above has merit because of the importance of pedagogical internship explicitly stated in the national curriculum prescribed by the Ministry of Education and Training Likewise, research studies also placed great weight on this component because it plays a crucial role in the teacher-training process (Minchanowska & Hruzd- TESOL QUARTERLY 425 Matushchyk, 2016; L Nguyen, 2014) As part of the interviewees’ proposed model of community-based learning, pedagogical internship would be more effective when situated in communities DISCUSSION Through community-based learning, the participants in this study explored the varied desire for learning English in local communities In particular, our qualitative analysis of the participants’ work highlights nine specific groups of learners, who represented a range of social, economic, and professional backgrounds These learners were of post-school ages, seeking to learn English for practical job-related purposes These characteristics were considered unfavourable for their access to English in the formal schooling system Significant are their findings about learners grouped into lower socioeconomic classes, making L2 teaching inclusive of various learning groups This reflects a rapid growth in the demand as well as marked sociopolitical and economic incentives for learning English in Vietnam (Bui & Nguyen, 2016) By understanding learners and their diverse purposes of learning, the participants perceived the role of English education and their role as prospective teachers for the goal of socioeconomic development of local communities In this way, the participants as preservice teachers achieved the domain of knowledge of learners and learning contexts in teacher education (Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2005) The needs of learners in the communities explored during the field trip were a foundation for the participants to develop their prospective practice in accordance with local needs That is, using the theoretical ground of the TESOL programme in combination with their understanding of the learners, each group of TCs was able to translate theory into practice as evident in what was specifically designed for their chosen learners In general, learners would be taught in informal, friendly, and communication-oriented ways with materials developed from both local and global sources This proposed practice represented community-based pedagogies, which include curricula and practices built from teachers’ knowledge and appreciation of learners and local communities (Sharkey, 2012; Sharkey et al., 2016; Zeichner et al., 2015) According to Darling-Hammond and Bransford (2005), the second and third domains of the knowledge base were satisfied, that is, knowledge of teaching and knowledge of curriculum and subject matter Above all, the pedagogical practices that the TCs developed reflected locally responsive language teaching, which has been advocated in the postmethod era (Kumaravadivelu, 2006) From the perspective of located SLTE, the participants were deemed “users and 426 LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES creators of legitimate form of knowledge who make decisions about how best to teach their L2 students within complex socially, culturally, and historically situated contexts” (Johnson, 2009b, pp 20–21) It is undeniable that the field trips gave the participants the chance to enrich their understanding of English teaching in local communities, which was more varied and authentic than purely university-based knowledge The participants capitalised on this source of knowledge and experiences, making a contribution to transforming their university-based TESOL education In particular, they critically examined the TESOL curriculum in their institution and then suggested a number of innovations Of note is their proposal for the inclusion of diverse learners and local needs in the TESOL curriculum, inherent in substantial changes in both theory and practice As a result, preservice teachers would be able to teach a wide range of learners rather than only formal learners in school In this way, preservice teachers of SLTE would have a greater understanding of the learners, of the national job market, of how to go about matching means with ends, and of how to apply the principles of learning flexibility to local contexts (Bui & Nguyen, 2016; C D Nguyen, 2016) This direction is particularly significant to the context of SLTE in Vietnam today because the needs for learning English and other foreign languages are not merely situated in formal schools By using their community learning experiences to inform the transformation of university-based SLTE, the participants expected a prospective generation of L2 teachers as legitimate creators of knowledge appropriate to their own sociocultural context (Johnson, 2009b; Murrell, 2001) The TCs’ learning to teach, although in a short period, was congruent with the approach to located SLTE proposed by Johnson (2009a); that is, the construction of pedagogical knowledge and practice was grounded in the social, cultural, political, and historical contexts in which both the teachers and the learners were situated (Hayes, 2009; Hu, 2005; Liu & Xu, 2011; Tsui, 2007; Xu & Connelly, 2009) The findings of the current study, although confirming the locally responsive pedagogies constructed for learners and the community as in past studies, highlighted the necessity of attending to a diversity of local learners Of note is the connection between individual learners’ needs and the socioeconomic development of the local community Thus, the curriculum and practice of SLTE need to accommodate this diversity of learners and learning purposes Based on the findings, we substantiated the concept of located SLTE, which basically posits that L2 teachers are encouraged to develop practice appropriate to learner characteristics, learning culture, and educational discourses of local contexts (Johnson, 2009a) This study elaborated the concept of located SLTE by highlighting a TESOL QUARTERLY 427 Local communi es * Diverse learners * Mul ple purposes Located SLTE Locally responsive knowledge & prac ce * Materials * Curriculum * Pedagogies University-based programmes * Curriculum * Pedagogies Figure Proposed model of located second language teacher education diverse population of L2 learners and foregrounding community learning as an efficient strategy or approach to teacher learning As in Figure 1, located SLTE is placed in the centre, surrounded by three components: local communities, locally responsive knowledge and practice, and university-based programmes First, teachers need to be engaged in local communities, exploring various issues such as learning purposes and learners’ characteristics situated in social, cultural, and economic contexts Teachers’ understanding of learners and local communities will result in their locally responsive knowledge and practice of L2 teaching, including curricula, materials, and pedagogical practices In this model of located SLTE, university-based programmes enhance teachers’ locally responsive knowledge and practice In this inextricable relationship, the latter helps to inform and transform the former This model of located SLTE would connect L2 teaching and L2 teacher preparation to other missions pertinent to socioeconomic development and the labour market rather than serving only formal schooling This direction would be deemed an innovation in teacher education for L2, especially English in Vietnam and similar countries where there is a great demand for competence in English and foreign languages for socioeconomic development CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS This study explored how a TESOL programme based on located L2 teacher education in a Vietnamese university helped preservice 428 LOCATED ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION IN COMMUNITIES teachers cater to the diverse needs of English learners in local communities Through community engagement, the participants explored a variety of learners who wished to learn English for personal and occupational purposes in connection with local socioeconomic development Based on their discovery of diverse learners, the participants proposed curricula and practices appropriate to learners and local needs Experiences and knowledge gained during their engagement in communities were used for informing and transforming universitybased SLTE Our selective qualitative analysis of the participants’ work and interviews conducted with them provide evidence that learning from a community-based experience can make a contribution to the transformative trend in teacher education (Cochran-Smith et al., 2016; Payne & Zeichner, 2017) The participants learned through interaction with the community in a way that could not have been simulated in a teacher education classroom Therefore, we suggest that SLTE should embrace community-based learning in combination with universitybased practice For example, part of SLTE programmes may include field trips and pedagogical internships in local communities, as the participants in this study suggested The research findings highlight the efficiency of a community-based approach to teacher learning, thereby holding significance for teacher education in Vietnam On the grounds of the participants’ perspectives on university-based teacher education in relation to their community-based learning, a number of strategies are recommended for reforming SLTE in Vietnam Given a marked demand for English competence from various groups of learners, there is a need for diversity of practical experience for EFL teachers and for understanding learner diversity In addition, preservice teachers need to use various methods as resources for problem solving rather than a bundle of fixed techniques For example, SLTE programmes should engage prospective teachers in small inquiry projects using community assets as the preservice teachers in this study identified in their field assignments In this way, prospective teachers would capitalise on social and cultural assets of communities for developing knowledge and practice These implications also have the potential to inform innovation in teacher education in other teaching subjects in Vietnam because teacher education is criticised for having been deeply grounded in transmission models (C D Nguyen, 2017a, 2017b) Another practical implication drawn from this study lies in the relationship between SLTE and local labour markets in Vietnam (Star & Hammer, 2008; L H N Tran, 2017) Whereas teacher graduates in Vietnam find it difficult or even impossible to find a position in schools, there is a great educational demand from learners who are not TESOL QUARTERLY 429 involved in the formal schooling system Against this backdrop, SLTE should aim at preparing teachers to meet the community needs for learning foreign languages, especially English In this regard, SLTE differs from teacher preparation for other disciplines Teachers in other disciplines are prepared to teach students in schools, but L2 teachers have a wide range of options Given the great need for foreign language competence for socioeconomic development in Vietnam and other Asia-Pacific countries today (Bui & Nguyen, 2016), SLTE should expand its aims to preparing teachers for this purpose Preservice TESOL teachers in Vietnam need to be aware of socioeconomic goals at national and local levels Similarly, this way of preparing teachers should be advocated in other regions where there is an increasing demand for English competence Therefore, together with the mission of preparing teachers for formal schools, SLTE as an integral part of higher education would move towards connecting with employability in the labour market (L H N Tran, 2017) Last but not least, the primary investigator in this study showed initiative in enacting small inquiry projects that had a great impact on preservice teachers’ beliefs as well as on the TESOL programme in his institution As in the research findings, similar inquiry projects should be encouraged in teacher education not only for L2 but also for other disciplines In this way, preservice teachers would be able to actively develop knowledge and practice by themselves rather than being passively trained by educators ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We would like to thank the teacher candidates who participated in the study Sincere thanks go to Dr David Crabbe, who gave constructive feedback on our article We would also like to extend our thanks to the anonymous referees and the editors for their critical reviews that greatly improved the manuscript THE AUTHORS Chinh Duc Nguyen is a lecturer of language education in the College of Foreign Language Studies at the University of Danang, in Vietnam, earning his MA in TESOL from the 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