Primary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculum (Tính chủ động của giáo viên tiếng Anh tiểu học khi thực hiện chương trình tiếng Anh)

Further research needs to be conducted to examine the ways teachers enact their individual agency, collective agency, and the interactions between individual teacher agency and collectivPrimary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculumPrimary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculumPrimary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculumPrimary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculumPrimary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculumPrimary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculumPrimary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculumPrimary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculumPrimary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculumPrimary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculumPrimary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculumPrimary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculumPrimary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculumPrimary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculumPrimary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculumPrimary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculumPrimary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculumPrimary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculumPrimary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculumPrimary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculumPrimary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculumPrimary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculumPrimary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculumPrimary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculumPrimary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculumTính chủ động của giáo viên tiếng Anh tiểu học khi thực hiện chương trình tiếng AnhTính chủ động của giáo viên tiếng Anh tiểu học khi thực hiện chương trình tiếng AnhTính chủ động của giáo viên tiếng Anh tiểu học khi thực hiện chương trình tiếng AnhTính chủ động của giáo viên tiếng Anh tiểu học khi thực hiện chương trình tiếng AnhTính chủ động của giáo viên tiếng Anh tiểu học khi thực hiện chương trình tiếng AnhTính chủ động của giáo viên tiếng Anh tiểu học khi thực hiện chương trình tiếng AnhTính chủ động của giáo viên tiếng Anh tiểu học khi thực hiện chương trình tiếng AnhTính chủ động của giáo viên tiếng Anh tiểu học khi thực hiện chương trình tiếng AnhTính chủ động của giáo viên tiếng Anh tiểu học khi thực hiện chương trình tiếng AnhTính chủ động của giáo viên tiếng Anh tiểu học khi thực hiện chương trình tiếng AnhTính chủ động của giáo viên tiếng Anh tiểu học khi thực hiện chương trình tiếng AnhTính chủ động của giáo viên tiếng Anh tiểu học khi thực hiện chương trình tiếng AnhTính chủ động của giáo viên tiếng Anh tiểu học khi thực hiện chương trình tiếng AnhTính chủ động của giáo viên tiếng Anh tiểu học khi thực hiện chương trình tiếng AnhTính chủ động của giáo viên tiếng Anh tiểu học khi thực hiện chương trình tiếng AnhTính chủ động của giáo viên tiếng Anh tiểu học khi thực hiện chương trình tiếng AnhTính chủ động của giáo viên tiếng Anh tiểu học khi thực hiện chương trình tiếng AnhTính chủ động của giáo viên tiếng Anh tiểu học khi thực hiện chương trình tiếng AnhTính chủ động của giáo viên tiếng Anh tiểu học khi thực hiện chương trình tiếng AnhTính chủ động của giáo viên tiếng Anh tiểu học khi thực hiện chương trình tiếng AnhTính chủ động của giáo viên tiếng Anh tiểu học khi thực hiện chương trình tiếng AnhTính chủ động của giáo viên tiếng Anh tiểu học khi thực hiện chương trình tiếng Anh

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

TRAN THI THAO

Primary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing

the English curriculum

SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL DISSERTATION

IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGES

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2024

ii

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY

TRAN THI THAO

Primary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing

the English curriculum

Major: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

Code: 9140111

SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL DISSERTATION

IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO SPEAKERS OF OTHER LANGUAGES

Supervisors: Le Thi Thanh Thu, Ed.D

Nguyen Huy Cuong, Ph.D

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2024

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LIST OF ARTICLES RELATED TO THE THESIS

Tran, T T (2022) Teacher agency in implementing the Getting-to-know-English for Grade

1 and Grade 2: How teachers enacted International Journal of Educational Reform,

32(2), 1-19 doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/10567879221145900

Tran, T T (2023) Teachers’ Collective Agency Enactment in Implementing the

Getting-to-know-English for Grades 1 and 2 Journal of Elementary Education, 33(1),

43-55

Tran, T T., Le, T T., & Nguyen, C H (2023) Primary school English teacher agency in

enacting teaching methods in implementing the Getting-to-know-English for Grade

1 and Grade 2 at two primary schools in Vietnam International Journal of Primary,

Elementary and Early Years Education, 1-15

doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2023.2258143

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Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale of the research

Fullan (2007) argues that “educational changes depend on what teachers do and think” (p 129), therefore calling for more research into teacher agency in the curriculum enactment There has been a recent uptick in study on teacher agency, but most of it has focused on secondary, high school, or university settings; elementary school settings have garnered comparatively little attention Although Le et al (2020) undertook a study examining teacher agency in Vietnamese context, they focused on the pilot English program under the National Foreign Language Project 2020 Little research has been conducted into teacher agency within the new general education curriculum, particularly the Getting-to-know-English for Grades 1 and 2 (hereinafter called the Getting-to-know-English curriculum) in the Vietnamese context with the focus on primary school English teachers

Furthermore, most research on teacher agency during the curriculum enactment attends to individual teacher agency, while very few studies focus on collective agency Further research needs to be conducted to examine the ways teachers enact their individual agency, collective agency, and the interactions between individual teacher agency and collective teacher agency to give impetus or constrain their agency enactment within the context of curriculum enactment Therefore, it echoes the need for further exploration of teacher agency enactment in implementing the Getting-to-know-English curriculum at primary schools

1.2 Research objectives and research questions

The research has three objectives:

1 to explore how the primary school English teachers enact their own individual agency

2 to examine how the primary school English teachers enact their collective agency

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3 to discover the bilateral interactions between teachers’ individual agency and collective agency as the impetus or constrain to their teacher agency enactment as a whole while they implement the Getting-to-know-English curriculum

From the three afore-mentioned objectives, the research has four research questions to answer:

1 How do the primary school English teachers enact their individual agency while implementing the Getting-to-know-English curriculum?

2 How do the primary school English teachers enact their collective agency while implementing the Getting-to-know-English curriculum?

3 How do the bilateral interactions between individual teacher agency and collective teacher agency give impetus or hindrance to the teacher agency enactment as a whole?

1.3 Research significance

Obtaining the insights into primary school English teacher agency in implementing the Getting-to-know-English curriculum within the new general education curriculum at primary schools in Vietnam might be useful for teachers of English for Grades 1 and 2, school administrators, teacher educators and policy makers

For teachers of English for Grades 1 and 2, gaining a thorough grasp of how primary school English teachers exercise their individual and collective agency will provide them

a clearer picture of the problems involved in implementing the Getting-to-know-English curriculum and anticipate the obstructions they might encounter in their local school contexts

For the school administrators, insights into the nature of teacher agency in primary schools will help the school administrators’ selections of measures to enhance teachers’ professional development

For teacher educators, such comprehensions will increase teacher educators' awareness of English teacher agency implementation in elementary schools Teacher

1.4 Research scope

First, the study focused exclusively on the elements pertaining to teachers’ individual agency, collective agency and the bilateral interactions between teachers’ individual agency and collective agency to give impetus or constrain teacher agency enactment as a whole

Secondly, the research was conducted at two primary schools located in the southern region of Vietnam, with a particular emphasis on the sociocultural attributes that distinguish this region from others

Finally, the scope was limited to those who were teaching primary students of Grades 1 and 2 and had certain previous professional experiences of this age group

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Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Agency

2.1.1 Agency from the social cultural approach

The notion of agency from this approach formulated by Emirbayer and Mische (1998) was regarded as the most prominent one in agency research agency was viewed as the interplay among three dimensions of agency, that is to say, iterational, practical-evaluative, and projective and the interactions varied based on the contextual conditions With regard to the iterational element, it was related to the prior experiences On the subject

of the practical-evaluative element, it was connected with the involvement with the present

In terms of the projective element, it was concerned with the intention towards future prospects

2.2 Teacher agency and teacher agency enactment

2.2.1 Definition of teacher agency enactment

The notion of enactment demonstrated the ways teachers interpreted the curriculum texts and how teachers transformed their interpretation of the curriculum texts into practice Walford, 2001) It is also in line with the conception of enactment proposed by Ball et al (2012), who stated that enactment referred to how the school teachers interpreted the curriculum texts into contextualized practices The term "interpretation" referred to the act

of reading and decoding curriculum texts in order to make sense of them The language of curriculum documents was transformed into the language of practice, with words transformed into actions and abstract concepts transformed into processes

2.2.2 Types of teacher agency enactment

Based on the results of the previous studies, the researcher categorized teacher agency enactment into three types of manifestation: acceptance, resistance, and adaptation (Walford, 2001; Lasky, 2005; Cross, 2010; Robinson, 2012; Pestrovic & Kuntz, 2013;

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Mellegard & Pettersen, 2016; Severance et al., 2016; Nguyen, 2016; Jenkins, 2019; Harris

& Graham, 2019; Peskova et al., 2019; Le et al., 2020) Acceptance was relevant to teachers’ capabilities to implement the curricular change Acceptance employed in studies carried out by Walford (2001), Cross (2010), Harris and Graham (2019, Peskova (2019) means adoption in Lasky (2005), compliance in Robinson (2012), responding to the existing frame in Petrovic and Kuntz (2013), adoption in Severance (2016), and proactive agency by Jenkins (2019)

Resistance was concerned with teachers’ abilities to resist or oppose the change Resistance deployed in previous research conducted by Walford (2001), Cross (2010), Severance (2016), Nguyen and Bui (2016), Harris and Graham (2019), Peskova (2019) means ignorance in Lasky (2005), passive agency in Jenkins (2019), and reframing in Petrovic and Kuntz (2013)

Adaptation was relevant to teachers’ capabilities to made modification to the curriculum change taking into consideration their local teaching and learning conditions Adaptation employed by Lasky (2005), Mellegard and Pettersen (2016), Severance (2016),

Le et al (2020) means accommodation in Walford’s study (2001), renegotiation in Cross (2010), negotiation in Robinson (2012), reinterpret the existing frame in Petrovic and Kuntz (2013)

2.2.3 Ecological approach to teacher agency

Based on the conception of agency under the sociocultural approach, the theory of teacher agency which is relevant to teachers’ activities in their institutional setting was further developed (Priestley et al., 2015) Priestley et al (2015) give further description of teacher agency as teachers’ ability to shape their responses to the challenging situations Teacher agency is defined as the temporal phenomenon which can be attained through the interplay of three dimension of agency namely iterational, practical-evaluative, and projective (Priestley et al., 2015) In other words, teachers’ choice making and action taking was influenced by the three above-mentioned dimensions

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2.2.3.1 The iterational dimension

The iterational dimension included teachers’ life histories and professional histories (Priestley et al., 2015) Teachers’ life histories were related to teachers’ personal skills and knowledge while teachers’ professional histories were pertinent to their experience as student teachers and experienced teachers

2.2.3.2 The practical-evaluative dimension

The practical-evaluative dimension of agency includes three main components: cultural (ideas, values, beliefs, discourses, and language), materials (resources and physical environment) and structural (relationships, roles, power, and trust) The practical-evaluative was relevant to teachers’ capabilities to make comprehensive evaluation among possibilities concerning the present situation situated in environmental contexts

2.2.3.3 The projective dimension

The projective dimension contains teachers’ short-term and long-term future orientations

2.2.4 Types of agencies

2.2.4.1 Individual agency

Individual agency was defined as the way individuals perceived, interpreted, made decisions, exercise their agentic actions, made changes and reflected on the curriculum change Teachers’ individual agency could be observed through their enactment in teaching content, teaching methods, assessment methods, and lesson planning in their classroom settings (Tao & Gao, 2019; Le et al., 2020; Desmaizayatri, 2020; Connor & Bengston, 2020)

2.2.4.2 Collective agency

Collective agency refers to the exercise of agency by a group of individuals or a community (Bandura, 2001) Teacher collective agency could be noticed through the way

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teachers took part in groups, shared knowledge, skills, resources, and cooperated with their colleagues to accomplish a communal objective

2.3 The Getting-to-know-English curriculum

In 2018, the new general education curriculum issued the Getting-to-know-English for Grade 1 and Grade 2 (hereafter called the Getting-to-know-English curriculum) The Getting-to-know-English curriculum is built based on the communicative orientation (Moet, 2018) The objectives of the Getting-to-know-English curriculum are to help students develop a basic understanding of the language, investigate and experience the development of English skills in contexts that are appropriate for their thinking, emotion, and psychology, give students greater confidence when they enter Grade 3, and foster a love of the language

2.4 The conceptual framework of the study

This study employed the ecological approach as the framework for the study for the purpose of exploring primary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the Getting-to-know-English curriculum (Priestley et al., 2015)

Teacher agency enactment was clearly manifested through acceptance, resistance, and adaptation proposed by Walford (2001) Therefore, they were added into the conceptual framework to serve as a guideline with the intention of examining the ways teachers enacted their individual agency in putting the Getting-to-know-English curriculum into practice The individual agency of teachers was investigated through its manifestations in four aspects in the Getting-to-know-English curriculum implementation namely teaching methods, teaching content, assessment methods, and lesson planning

Although the ecological framework given by Priestley et al (2015) shed light on individual teacher agency enactment, it does not concentrate on teachers’ collective agency enactment According to Giddens (1979) and Soini et al (2015), teacher agency might be enacted not only at the individual level but also at the community level Consequently, primary school English teacher agency should entail not only teachers’ individual agency

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but also teachers’ collective agency The previous studies carried out teachers’ collective agency with a focus on lesson planning, teaching materials, creating students’ guidebooks and learning activities within the professional development program Therefore, the researcher added the professional development programs into the ecological model proposed by Priestley et al (2015) to examine teachers’ collective agency In addition, teachers participated in the peer observation discussion to learn from their colleagues, receive feedback from them and make adaptation to their individual teaching practices and apply the useful things into their own classes As a result, the researcher integrated peer observation discussions into the ecological model suggested by Priestley et al (2015) to look into teachers’ collective agency

Although the influence of collective agency on individual agency has been mentioned in the previous studies, whether it facilitated or hindered individual agency enactment in two forms of collective agency namely the professional development program and peer observation discussions remains neglected They brought about the changes in individual teachers’ teaching methods, teaching content, assessment methods, and lesson planning (Turnbull, 2005; Priestley et al., 2011; Poulton, 2020; Fu & Nashon, 2014, Ryder

et al., 2016; Nguyen & Bui, 2016) Additionally, although the previous studies did examine the impact of teachers’ collective agency on individual agency in the curriculum reform mandates, the individual teachers’ participation in the collective actions was not looked into Their participation in such collective activities was observed through the peer observation discussions concerning their lessons and their peers’ lessons for Grades 1 and

2 Therefore, the ways individual teachers contributed to the collective actions particularly the peer observation discussions were integrated into the conceptual framework of the study

2.5 Chapter summary

The study examines teachers’ individual and collective agency enactment when enacting the Getting-to-know-English curriculum as well as the bilateral interactions between teachers’ individual agency and collective agency to give impetus or hindrance to

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teacher agency enactment as a whole based on the conceptual framework of the study proposed by Priestley et al (2015)

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Chapter 3 METHODOLOGY 3.1 Research design

Qualitative case study research was utilized in the study to investigate the enactment

of teachers’ individual agency and collective agency and the bilateral interactions between teachers’ individual agency and collective agency to give impetus or hindrance to their agency at primary schools when implementing the Getting-to-know-English curriculum

3.2 Participants of the study

For the purpose of the study, four English teachers of Grades 1 or 2 at two primary schools in BRVT province were purposively selected to participate in the study

3.3 Data collection instrument

The main instruments to gain data for the study are observations and interviews Interviews and observations are used in conjunction with one another to supply further information and explanation for the participants' talk In addition, documents were also employed to provide the background information for the current study Multiple sources of data should be obtained for the purpose of validating data and ensure the reliability of data (Richards et al., 2011)

3.3.1 Documents

The study analyzed the public and private documents The public documents contain documents released by the government, MoET, DoET, and DET The private documents include teaching procedure (curriculum map, teachers’ lesson plans, textbooks, and teaching materials

3.3.2.2 Pilot interviews

The questions in the pilot interviews (interviews 2) were developed based on the literature review and result of preliminary interviews and conducted with two primary school English teachers of different primary schools from the main sample

3.3.2.3.2 Interviews after observing teachers’ individual agency in enacting the Getting-to-know-English curriculum

In the fourth to sixth interviews, the researcher designed and asked the participating teachers a set of questions relevant to the emerging issues from their individual teaching practices after conducting the observations in their own classroom settings to examine teachers’ individual agency

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3.3.2.3.3 Interviews after peer observation discussions

Each interview was established based on the researcher’s previous observation of the peer observation discussion to examine the influence of the collective actions on teachers’ individual agency as well as the role and content of individual teachers’ contributions to the collective actions

3.3.3 Observations

The researcher observed teachers’ individual teaching practices with a focus on four aspects: teachers’ teaching methods, teaching content, methods of assessment, and lesson planning Additionally, the researcher carried out six observations in the peer observation discussions (three observations of each school) to note down the content of teachers’ collective actions and the ways individual teachers contributed to the collective actions

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Chapter 4 DATA ANALYSIS (Description of cases) 4.1 Case Hoa

4.1.1 The iterational, practical-evaluative, and projective dimension for Hoa

Concerning the iterational dimension, Hoa is a trained teacher with a three-year BA

by a local college and participated in two professional training programs which provided teachers with Modules 1 and 4 Regarding the practical-evaluative dimension, Hoa worked under the culture of creativity and performativity In relation to materials, the school provides teachers with basic teaching facilities such as smart TV, black board, and chalks However, these teaching facilities are not enough to help teachers of English to deliver the lesson effectively In terms of the projective dimension, Hoa would like her students to be able to use the vocabulary they have learned to ask and respond in basic daily communication situations, study abroad and collaborate with coworkers in international companies in the future

4.1.2 Hoa’s acceptance to the prescribed teaching methods, assessment methods, and lesson planning

4.1.2.1 Hoa’s common teaching methods: TPR and experiential learning

From the classroom observations, she complied with utilizing TPR in vocabulary instruction Hoa complied with using not only TPR but also Experiential learning in vocabulary instruction In the fifth interview, she stated that: “Bringing real objects into the classroom would stimulate students’ engagement into the lessons and personalize the teaching content to students”

The interview data showed that Hoa’s compliance with the teaching methods such

as TPR and experiential learning was shaped by the professional training program and her previous professional experience Through the professional training program, she was

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introduced several teaching methods for young learners and the ways to apply them into the classroom and had valuable opportunities to exchange ideas with the colleagues at the intra and inter-school levels Additionally, her employment of Total Physical Response in vocabulary instruction was driven from her full-time teaching job at a foreign language center in which she had valuable opportunities to exchange ideas with her colleagues about different issues of the Getting-to-know-English curriculum, especially teaching methods for young learners of Grades 1 and 2

4.1.2.2 Hoa’s assessment methods: communicative activities

The ways Hoa conducted assessment methods were analyzed through observation and interview The observational data revealed certain common learning activities in her class such as vocabulary, listening and speaking activities and made observation of students’ learning progress through these activities on a daily basis to evaluate her students Hoa reported in an interview extract that her enactment in assessment methods proposed

by the curriculum mandates was shaped by her the prescribed curriculum assessment and students’ parents’ expectations Firstly, Hoa’s employment of assessment methods was driven by the prescribed curriculum assessment As suggested in Circular 32 and Circular

27 concerning the guideline for assessing primary students, especially students of Grades

1 and 2, formative assessment should be employed to evaluate students’ learning progress

to identify students’ strengths and weaknesses rather than evaluating students at the end of the semester Secondly, the way she followed the prescribed assessment methods was informed by students’ parents’ expectations Parents would like teachers to help their children to improve their children’ learning and solved their problems if any issues arising from the learning and teaching process if students were assessed frequently

4.1.2.3 Hoa’s lesson plan: follow the prescribed lesson plan

Hoa’s employment of lesson plan was analyzed based on her lesson plan and the semi-structured interviews Her lesson plan showed that the lesson was divided into four sections: getting knowledge, practice, production, and consolidation rather than adopting

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the old format which involved teacher and students’ activities She stated in the interview that: “In the new format, each activity had its own objective, teaching methods, procedures, expected product, and expected assessment The interview data also demonstrated that her compliance with lesson planning dictated by the curriculum mandates was driven by her knowledge from the professional training program and previous professional teaching experience Through the training program, she identified the difference between the old and new format of lesson planning Teacher and students’ activities were the center of attention in the old format However, the new format of lesson planning served as a detailed guideline for her to conduct teaching activities In addition, based on her previous teaching experience, she found out that planning lessons following the old format was traditional and uncreative Nevertheless, the new format of planning lessons helped teachers to evaluate their students throughout the lesson through various activities instead of assessing students after each lesson as previously

4.1.3 Hoa’s adaptation to the prescribed textbook content and her colleagues’ ideas 4.1.3.1 Hoa’s teaching content: focus on vocabulary and communication skills

The focus of attention in the enactment of teaching content of Hoa, was vocabulary pronunciation, vocabulary spelling, listening and speaking skills The classroom observational data illustrated that Hoa tended to focus much on vocabulary pronunciation She usually conducted games for students to review new lexical items they had learned from the previous lessons or from previous activities in the current lessons In terms of listening and speaking skills, students made use of the new lexical items they had learned

to participate in games, learning activities, listened and pointed to the words, listened and repeated, looked at the pictures, asked and answered She also reported that her adaptation

in teaching content was shaped by her prior knowledge, her long-term expectation, and students’ learning outcomes She reported that Vietnamese students might be excellent at grammar, but they could not communicate with their teachers or foreigners Moreover, the purpose of learning a foreign language was to maintain and foster international communication

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4.1.3.2 Hoa’s colleagues’ ideas impact her teaching methods, error correction

techniques, teaching materials, and feedback giving

She made adaptations to teaching activities, error correction techniques, teaching materials, feedback giving, and classroom management through collaborating with her colleagues inside and outside the school context Hoa reported that her collective actions were mainly shown through her collaboration at the foreign language center where she was working as a full-time English teacher while she only took part in the peer observation discussions at the primary school once a month As a part-time English teacher, she was not obligatory to participate in the school meetings or the group meeting

4.1.4 Hoa’s individual contribution to the collective actions: a leader

According to the observational data, Hoa was the most powerful speaker who made the most contribution to the peer observation discussions She frequently generated ideas, maintained her own conversation, and developed her colleagues' discussion She was the person who assumed the dominating role in the discussion to draw the listener's attention or present a suggestion for the engagement Based on the observational data, Hoa took the initiative role in the discussion

4.2 Case Hang

4.2.1 The iterational, practical-evaluative, and projective dimension for Hang

Concerning the iterational dimension, Hang was trained to become an English teacher to teach secondary students from Grades 6 to 9 In addition, she took part in textbook training programs and pedagogical training offered by BRVT Division of Education and Training, in which she was trained the ways to plan lessons according to the official dispatch 5512 Regarding the practical-evaluative dimension, the school put priority on teachers’ accountability outcomes and teachers are assessed through students’ results Although the school leaders push teachers to set up a good relationship with each other, teachers work in isolation from each other In relation to materials, Hang reported that the school did not provide sufficient teaching materials for the teacher in teaching

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English In terms of the projective dimension, Hang would like to build students’ confidence and enhance their communication skills on the basis of fostering vocabulary

4.2.2 Hang’s acceptance to the prescribed teaching methods

She complied with utilizing TPR and Experiential learning in teaching and reviewing lexical items In addition to complying with employing TPR, Hang used Experiential learning in vocabulary instructions as well Hang’s compliance with using TPR and Experiential learning in vocabulary instructions proposed by the curriculum mandates was dominated by her prior knowledge at her college and previous professional experience acquired from her colleagues at the center She would like to apply the method she learned from her lecturer and colleagues into her real teaching practices with the intention of helping the students learn new lexical items as effectively as her lecturer and colleagues

4.2.3 Hang’s resistance to the prescribed lesson planning

Hang resisted to use the new format of lesson planning dictated by the curriculum mandates She stated in the interview extract that:

“When teachers look at the lessons, all of them can predict teaching activities and objectives of these activities Only teachers who have not gone through pedagogical training need such lesson plans.”

Hang’s resistance to follow the new format of lesson plan to sustain in the traditional format due to her previous professional experience She gave further explanation that the new format of lesson plans paid much attention to the forms which had too many aims and outcomes, but could not solve anything

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4.2.4 Hang’s adaptation to the prescribed textbook content, assessment methods, and her colleagues’ ideas

4.2.4.1 Hang’s teaching content: focus on vocabulary and communication skills

Instead of covering all of the textbook content, Hang put an emphasis on the content she believed necessary for her students such as vocabulary pronunciation, vocabulary spelling, listening and speaking skills for her students and eliminated unnecessary sections namely songs and chants and replaced them with group, pair discussion, and vocabulary and grammar exercises Hang’s adaptation to teaching content was influenced by her prior knowledge and previous professional experience She stated that when she was at the high school, the teacher taught communication skills in an ineffective way, as a result, she could not use English and employed it to communicate with other people in meaningful contexts She also said that the teachers would be eliminated immediately if they delivered the lessons uninterestingly due to the fierce competition among teachers at the foreign center

4.2.4.2 Hang’s assessment methods: communication and writing activities

Hang showed her adaptation to the mandated assessment methods through the employment of communicative and writing activities and marking their workbook exercises However, she did not note down students’ learning progress into her notebook Hang’s employment of assessment methods was impacted by her previous professional experience She said that she had a one-year experience in teaching Grades 1 and 2 at this primary school and she used to apply these methods of assessment and witness their effectiveness of evaluating students’ comprehension of the lessons

4.2.4.3 Hang’s colleagues’ ideas impact her teaching methods, assessment methods, and mistake correction

Hang reported that she collaborated with her colleagues inside the primary school and her colleagues at the foreign language center to implement the Getting-to-know-English curriculum Hang stated that she mainly collaborated with her colleagues at the foreign language center through the monthly meetings to exchange ideas with them

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concerning the ways to teach the Getting-to-know-English curriculum It was optional for her to participate in the school meetings and the group meetings Collaborating with these teachers had direct impact on her individual agency enactment in teaching methods, assessment methods, and mistake correction The motives shaped this action rooted from her previous professional experience She stated that each teacher had his or her own teaching methods and teaching styles and they knew the ways to deliver the English lessons effectively Therefore, she listened to ideas proposed by her colleagues and made adaptations to teaching methods, assessment methods, and mistake correction to help the students achieve their learning outcomes and bring favorable learning conditions for them

4.2.5 Hang’s individual contribution to the collective actions: a supporter

Hang played the role of the supporter and follower in the discussion She was not the person who initiated the conversations but the one who supported her colleagues and followed the discussion by responding to her colleagues’ questions actively Based on the interview data, it was found that Hang assumed the role of a supporter for specific reasons Initially, she desires her coworkers to actively participate in the debate and establish a conducive environment for exchanging perspectives Furthermore, she desires to actively participate in the discussion, prompting her coworkers to generate insightful and original ideas Furthermore, she assumed the role of a follower in the conversation in addition to her role as a supporter

4.3 Case Huong

4.3.1 The iterational, practical-evaluative, and projective dimension for Huong

Concerning the iterational dimension, Huong gained a college degree from BRVT College of Education majoring in Teaching English to speakers of other languages At the college, she was exposed to the psychological and teaching methods for secondary students She also participated in a one-day textbook training program delivered by a textbook company and pedagogical training offered by BRVT Division of Education and Training Regarding the practical-evaluative dimension, she worked under the culture of