Tung Vu, University at Albany, USA

Introduction

After “Đổi mới”, the economic policy that opened Vietnam to free trade and attracted foreign investment in many fields,Vietnam has witnessed numerous transformations in different areas of life. Since Vietnam became the 150^th member of the World Trade Organization, English has played a big role in growing the national economy (Thanh, 2001). Because of “Đổi mới,” one benefit is that Vietnamese people have more opportunities to develop career prospects at the international level. In the past, a teacher's instruction primarily influenced learners’ academic performance. Today, learners’ academic performance also influences teachers’ beliefs, which in turn shifts teaching practices. Teachers have more self-awareness as well as awareness of their sociocultural environment, which facilitates their flexibility to change. Following National Foreign Language Project 2020 in Vietnam as a focus of this study (MOET, 2008), much research suggested that English teachers for Young Learners were unqualified according to common standards, which hinged on teachers’ language proficiency, teaching abilities, and research capabilities. The study blamed teachers’ passivity, poor linguistic proficiency, and low teaching competence for this effect (Le & Barnard, 2019). However, empirical research and theoretical insights have rarely discovered how to enact teacher agency and engage in intercultural communication to transform their teaching settings. What defines teacher agency, and how to interpret this concept need further exploration. Therefore, I investigated the following research question:

How can enacting teacher agency and engaging in intercultural communication help English teachers navigate their teaching practices and facilitate their career development?

Conceptual Definitions

Learning English these days is no longer solely a linguistic endeavor. It is also a means of developing intercultural communication, commonly perceived in terms of interculturality. Interculturality is phenomenologically constructed between speaker(s) and hearer(s) who possess differing cultural backgrounds, but who would negotiate current knowledge base and behavioural intentions to reach their shared communicative goals (Kecskes, 2016).

To examine teacher agency in informing teacher beliefs and teaching practices, I turned to Roger and Wezel’s (2013) definition of human agency. In their view, teachers act pedagogically for students or professionally for themselves based on their intrinsic motivations and intentions. Moreover, people decide their actions based on reflections on experiential gains in the past. This definition clarifies that when teachers have agency, they can decide their teaching and non-teaching practices, which significantly impacts their professional development. Such development is taken care with their intentions to organize learning environment with certain beliefs and solid knowledge.

Based on these concepts, I regard teachers and learners as communicative partners. English teachers, as a result, are required to become cognizant of designing learning opportunities that encourage students, through class and non-class participation, to communicate purposefully. As English itself is widely used, English learning experiences should do more than simply support speakers’ communication across cultures. It should also support inclusivity as it enables learners to bring their own culture and language into the classroom. Therefore, intercultural communicative competence (ICC) also plays a key role in teachers’ professional development. However, teachers develop ICC differently, according to the pace of their professional lives and their teaching contexts. Providing knowledge for intercultural communication would not only facilitate teachers’ cognitive priorities (e.g. knowledge and skills), but also teachers’ attitudinal and behavioral development (e.g. curiosity, interests, willingness).

Research Design

This article reports on a narrative research study, which narrated teachers’ lived experiences inside and outside the classes (Creswell, 2012). This study was carried out with one participant, a male primary teacher of English, during six months in Vietnam. While there were limitations to conducting a study with just one participant, I was also able to extensively investigate the teacher’s acts that were driven socio-culturally and influence them to enact agency so they could feel confident and perform well in their classrooms. Data are cited from field notes, semi structured interviews, and reflective entries through email communications. The researcher conducted an open coding through the lens of teacher agency and intercultural communication. It is generally found that demonstrating the teacher’s competent adaptability allows them to make informed decisions on how to participate effectively in new communities’ culture and norms. The participant’s voice emerged and transformed when he was encouraged to reflect on his teaching practices. In the sections that follow, my findings share a male teacher’s stories about how his personal, educational, and professional experiences influenced his agency as a teacher and his intercultural communicative competence.

Findings

Nguyen (pseudonym) graduated in 2016 from a two-year teacher education program of a university based in southern Vietnam before being assigned to work as a teacher of English at a primary school which was exclusively for the minority groups.

Prior to university, Nguyen dreamed of becoming a teacher of English to help children learn about local issues. He also hoped to obtain a better job to increase his standard of living. He also believed that having good language skills would increase his employability. Nguyen described his situation in these words: “I never used to consider that I am an unfortunate teacher because having a hard life taught me to be active. If I don’t have opportunities to attend extra classes, I will gladly join free events where I can interact with others in English. I developed my language faster than I thought. Once I found my students coincide my past experiences, I would assume I can guide them” (Interview). In this statement, Nguyen implicitly demonstrates his agency by sharing his beliefs, which either challenge or motivate his engagement in the community. He shared that having little exposure to language learning in high school negatively impacted his experience in higher education. He often had difficulty understanding his written English textbooks and struggled to understand the content of the spoken academic lectures. In addition to that, his family’s financial difficulties prevented him from the opportunity of learning at a private language school. He had to spend all evenings working as a science tutor. Nevertheless, his motivation encouraged him to study hard and actively take part in opportunities outside the class (e.g. university clubs, NGOs) to build confidence and public speaking skills.

Nguyen never seemed to want to give up on his students because his teaching supported the common good. “My lovely students - Stand up, if we don’t do well now, we can plan to make it better. Don’t worry, I have your back” (Observation, English translation). This quote is echoed in his reflection on his own experience in maintaining his positive mind to empower his students. Furthermore, his challenging early professional years instilled generosity and empathy towards his primary students whose family backgrounds were below poverty level. In his first years as a teacher, he experienced severe facility shortages and steadily decreasing class attendance. Nguyen reflected on his situation by saying, “It seems hard as I have no one to believe what I think is good” (Interview, English translation). Despite disempowering external forces that threatened to destroy his hope, as an active novice teacher of English, he sought every chance to observe other teachers’ classes and discuss innovative ideas with his supervisor. In addition to that, he was motivated to learn from different online resources and his former peers, which cultivated a more sustainable professional plan that enhanced his instructional approaches.

He shared that his school culture was not open because they relied on district funding and followed the regional curricula. However, he attended the school meetings and listened carefully to his colleagues, who were sometimes upset with him about his initiatives. He stated: “I made a variety of plans for my students’ engagement. I paid little attention to whether my supervisor agreed since I thought they needed to be convinced enough before I could confidently share my plans” (Interview, English translation). Because he recognized that music can motivate learning, Nguyen and one of his friends once tried to voluntarily organize a school-wide activity that integrated music and dance for teaching daily English. Nguyen “slightly smiled at times" (Observation, non-verbal communication). I observed that his students enjoyed attending school more and favored his personality. “I was pleased to impress my principal and senior colleagues.” As a result of this extracurricular activity, Nguyen’s school leader and colleagues started to see him as a competent and dedicated teacher.

As for his engagement in larger communities as inspiration for developing himself professionally, Nguyen actively sought to widen his social networks. He became passionate about improving his language and instructional skills at home from online sources, such as Microsoft Innovative Educators, where he later became a highly-rated teaching staff member. “I can’t believe I had [adequate access to] a lot of useful resources without paying. I found that when I chose to actively seek help from others, they will help me with finding useful instructional tools” (Interview, English translation). He looked for funding to join local workshops and conferences to increase his understanding of how to teach diverse students, beyond teaching knowledge and imparting skills. He was active on the forum and interacted with other local/international colleagues through Skype. “Even though I live remotely, I have found no barriers. I view my students as family, colleagues as friends, people in one’s digital communities as colleagues” (Interview, English translation). Despite his position as a novice teacher and his inadequate instructional facilitates, he learned about marginalized Vietnamese groups and other neighboring countries’ cultures with interest, confidently managed his negative socio-psychological behaviors, and demonstrated that he valued the dignity of other cultures. In the future, he plans to convince the school leaders to purchase screens and projectors so that he can organize more interactive classes, exposing students to other global English teachers.

Discussion

When it comes to theoretical and observational data, teacher agency is an evolving phenomenon in which teacher’s familial, cultural and social backgrounds can serve as a mediating tool to establish their future engagement. Among possible trajectories, teachers have certain orientations toward future career-related goals, which can help them make sound and sensible decisions. Like Roger and Wezel (2013), I believe that teacher agency facilitates a teacher's ability to use their resources, whether they have many or few, in ways that meaningfully informs their teaching.

Nguyen has accommodated himself in varying patterns of educational settings (e.g. high school, university, and workplace), where he has had the opportunity to navigate productivity. In parallel with Kecskes (2011), he reported to have asserted more adaptability than before he had translated his experiential gains into professional skills. For example, his perceived limited linguistic skills led him to participate in university clubs to practice more speaking and build confidence. Thus, this valuable experience in extracurricular activities (like clubs) reinforced his social skills and re-energized his teaching following how he was helped with how to build up skills. He consistently saw his learners as autonomous and used instructional strategies to help learners to see what they are good at and need to improve. He enthusiastically helped his students overcome low motivation by offering many motivating, age-appropriate lessons saying, “My principal and I built professional rapport. We actively hold meetings for teachers, and I introduce plans to them and listen to their ideas. We discuss and plan for monthly engaging activities that include free food and that involve students’ parents and invite other schools’ students to help them make friends” (Interview, English translation). Learners greatly increased in their attendance rates and academic outcomes. Consequently, this has built a long-lasting trust with his school leaders and colleagues. His exercise of agency and efforts for equitable environment are important facets in his work. He shared that from this vantage point, teacher education programs (TEP) need to focus on improving teachers’ mental health and motivation.

Regarding professional growth, observational data suggested that this male teacher’s agency was on the rise as a metaphor of his abilities of ICC. That is, he directed his evolving agency, which profoundly facilitated student motivation and engagement. His emotional strength seemingly contributed to his success by recognizing socio-cultural differences and understanding of learners’ knowledge. He authentically explored his stories as a good source of cross-cultural knowledge, which was facilitated by his willingness and interest to build rapport with learners and to care deeply about mindfulness beyond the classroom. In addition, he was dedicated to personal and professional development. It seems that his situational awareness would thrive based on his self-efficacy which facilitate his positive attitudes and behaviors which contribute to his success in his teaching and non-teaching decisiveness.

However, even though Nguyen tried to put discouraging determinants aside, demands of ICC-related techniques for TEP were still required. Sometimes, he needed to invest a lot of time to earn money in other jobs, which led to the loss of opportunities. Despite having strong positive internal forces that support their teaching, teachers of young learners need additional support from higher education policy makers, particularly in regard to adequately compensating teachers to retain them for years and years.

Future research can report on how ICC is developed in a fuller extent and with more participants in different schools and both teaching genders. Teacher agency is under-researched in Vietnamese educational settings. It can be broadened to inform other marginalized settings, like in the other 53 minority groups across Vietnam. Therefore, it will expand more understanding of the investigated literature in broader socio-cultural and linguistic plurality. In addition, this research contributes to the field’s research balance in terms of gender since it unpacked the most recent meaning of relevant field with male teaching profession, which is rarely seen in Vietnam’s K-5 education levels. It is more significant that attitudinal and emotional dimensions are more sensitive among female Vietnamese teachers, so they should have attention in future research. At global level, the study has initiated theoretical approaches and the practical implementations regarding how teacher agency can be underpinned to develop professionalism.

References

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