English-Medium Instruction Practices in Vietnamese Higher Education: A Positioning Theory Perspective
- Publication Type:
- Thesis
- Issue Date:
- 2023
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The focus-on-content movement in English language education and the globalisation and internationalisation of higher education (HE) has brought about the global rise in English-medium instruction (EMI). While EMI is expanding globally, a question arises as to how lecturers should be prepared to implement such programs. A comprehensive understanding of EMI classroom practices is thus necessary to design effective, contextualised professional development schemes for EMI lecturers. Although there have been several studies into EMI teaching practices worldwide, the number of similar studies in the Asia-Pacific region (except China, Korea, and Japan) has been scarce. This situation, coupled with the dearth of a theoretical perspective in EMI pedagogy research, results in a limited understanding of EMI lecturers’ pedagogical actions, and thus cannot facilitate EMI lecturer development effectively. In Vietnam, while the local culture has been demonstrated to impact classroom EMI implementation, none of the EMI studies conducted in this country has explicitly examined the culture factor in Vietnamese lecturers’ EMI pedagogy.
This study addresses these contextual, theoretical, and empirical gaps by investigating Vietnamese EMI lecturers’ teaching practices, particularly their instructional adaptation, under the theoretical lens of Positioning Theory. Adopting a qualitative multiple-case study methodology, six lecturers from two disciplines were interviewed and audio-recorded in both their EMI and Vietnamese-Medium Instruction (VMI) lessons. Data were also generated from the relevant literature related to Vietnamese educational culture, key EMI policy documents at the national and institutional levels, and the lecturers’ teaching materials.
Positioning analysis of the Vietnamese educational literature, national and institutional policies, and interview data uncovered several tensions across the macro- (i.e, cultural, national), meso- (i.e., institutional), and micro- (i.e., classroom) levels. Lecturers’ perceptions of their EMI rights and duties (or their self-positionings) aligned with their academic disciplines and Vietnamese educational culture, but misaligned with national and institutional policies. These misalignments brought about EMI classroom practices out of tune with policy expectations. Without proper guidance and support, the lecturers simply acted out their beliefs and their personal sense of duty towards their teaching jobs and students. Although the lecturers’ self-positionings did not change in EMI when compared to VMI, they still made instructional adaptations to accommodate their and their students’ challenges in the process of teaching and learning in a foreign language. This study argues for disciplinary-specific EMI policy-making and a student-centred approach to EMI lecturer development to provide culturally-appropriate, systematic, and ongoing professional support for lecturers in Vietnamese HE and similar contexts.
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