Self-assessment and Language Learner Autonomy: An Exploratory Study in a Vietnamese University

This paper aims to explore the role of self-assessment in developing language learner autonomy in the Vietnamese higher education context. Specifically, it focuses on how the assessment for English language learning is currently conducted and how this relates to learner autonomy. Despite the Vietnamese government’s official requirement for learner autonomy, Vietnamese higher education’s language academic context provides presently little space for autonomous learning. The idea of self-assessment is relatively unfamiliar and has, therefore, been little investigated. Based on qualitative data from observations and interviews with 38 university students, this paper presents the understanding of learner autonomy in Vietnamese higher education. In particular, the findings suggest that self-assessment may be a useful operational approach for fostering language learner autonomy in Vietnam and other similar settings. Also, they highlight the demand of promoting self-assessment literacy and the importance of self-assessment principles within the local context.

How Teachers Perceive the Ongoing Influence of a Portfolio on Reflection: A Case Study

<p>This case study investigated the long-term influences of compiling a portfolio on resource teachers’ (RTLB) reflection on practice. The findings provide a detailed analysis of the reflection that is stimulated by the portfolio process and the extent to which this has been ongoing in the RTLBs’ practice. Compiling the portfolio stimulated the RTLBs’ reflection on practice in a number of aspects, from selecting cases and evidence to writing, reading, collegial support, and professional supervision. It also promoted a more critical understanding of what it means to be a reflective practitioner. Among these, the writing involved in the portfolio process appears to be one of the most important factors in promoting reflection. However, reflective writing has not been maintained in the participants’ current practice, whereas other aspects of reflection have, to some extent, continued. The overall quality of reflection has thus become more technical, albeit less deep, as it grows to cater for participants’ professional needs. Much emphasis is put on formal/professional supervision and collegial support as important vehicles in maintaining the post-portfolio reflection. The former is deemed highly valuable because of the professional guidance and the sense of direction that a professional supervisor can offer as he/she triggers the RTLB’s reflection, while the latter provides them with opportunities to share with their colleagues the things that they find useful, discuss the issues that they have in common, have their practice challenged and critiqued, and look at better practice. The establishment of communities of practice particularly stands out as an effective vehicle for sustaining reflection. The study includes recommendations for maintaining reflection in the post-portfolio phase, as well as for sustained portfolio use. Suggestions are also made for the application of portfolio assessment in the Vietnamese higher education system. Further research is recommended to expand the scope and scale of this study, as is collecting empirical evidence that would validate the findings in a Vietnamese context. A more thorough investigation into the Vietnamese higher education system and its cultural, social and political features is also recommended in order to generate a more detailed proposal for the application of portfolio assessment in Vietnam.</p>

How Teachers Perceive the Ongoing Influence of a Portfolio on Reflection: A Case Study

<p>This case study investigated the long-term influences of compiling a portfolio on resource teachers’ (RTLB) reflection on practice. The findings provide a detailed analysis of the reflection that is stimulated by the portfolio process and the extent to which this has been ongoing in the RTLBs’ practice. Compiling the portfolio stimulated the RTLBs’ reflection on practice in a number of aspects, from selecting cases and evidence to writing, reading, collegial support, and professional supervision. It also promoted a more critical understanding of what it means to be a reflective practitioner. Among these, the writing involved in the portfolio process appears to be one of the most important factors in promoting reflection. However, reflective writing has not been maintained in the participants’ current practice, whereas other aspects of reflection have, to some extent, continued. The overall quality of reflection has thus become more technical, albeit less deep, as it grows to cater for participants’ professional needs. Much emphasis is put on formal/professional supervision and collegial support as important vehicles in maintaining the post-portfolio reflection. The former is deemed highly valuable because of the professional guidance and the sense of direction that a professional supervisor can offer as he/she triggers the RTLB’s reflection, while the latter provides them with opportunities to share with their colleagues the things that they find useful, discuss the issues that they have in common, have their practice challenged and critiqued, and look at better practice. The establishment of communities of practice particularly stands out as an effective vehicle for sustaining reflection. The study includes recommendations for maintaining reflection in the post-portfolio phase, as well as for sustained portfolio use. Suggestions are also made for the application of portfolio assessment in the Vietnamese higher education system. Further research is recommended to expand the scope and scale of this study, as is collecting empirical evidence that would validate the findings in a Vietnamese context. A more thorough investigation into the Vietnamese higher education system and its cultural, social and political features is also recommended in order to generate a more detailed proposal for the application of portfolio assessment in Vietnam.</p>

Contextualising Service Learning for Vietnamese Higher Education

<p><b>The term ‘service learning’ has appeared on the horizon of Vietnamese higher education in the past few decades and is one among a wide range of pedagogical approaches that have been imported from the West. ‘Looking outward’ (Nguyen & Tran, 2017), especially to the West, is a legacy of long-lasting foreign domination that has shaped political and social changes in Viet Nam. Despite its Western roots, the service learning approach also appears to have accommodated Vietnamese ideological influences associated with creating a more capable workforce, fulfilling socialist responsibilities, and cultivating Confucian moral values. This form of experiential learning is expected to respond to the dreams of the nation by producing young graduates who possess the expertise and ethics to meet Ho Chi Minh’s socialist ideology ‘Vừa hồng, vừa chuyên’ (Both socialist-minded and professionally competent), who are better prepared for a modernised and globalised workforce. Driven by these ideologies, service learning has become increasingly popular in Vietnamese universities. Yet, despite the widespread adoption of the approach, the contextualisation of service learning is underexplored in academic research. This study aims to address the research gap by investigating the inception, challenges and opportunities, and implications for the growth and expansion of service learning in Vietnamese context.</b></p> <p> This multisite case study, which involved participants from four universities in Viet Nam, employed an interpretivist paradigm and Kuan-Hsing Chen’s (2010) Asia as Method as theoretical orientations. An interpretivist lens enabled an exploration of the subjective experiences of those who have been involved in service learning projects and the meanings they construct. Meanwhile, Asia as Method highlighted the specificity of the local context and offered a more radical edge to an interpretivist lens, particularly in terms of proposing changes to service learning in Vietnamese higher education. A reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2019) of interview, document, and observation data revealed three distinguishing features of service learning in Vietnamese higher education: the importance of communities as a means for educational change, the challenges associated with navigating power relationships, and the significance of benevolence as moral value.</p> <p>My findings suggested important implications for policy development and service learning practices in Vietnamese higher education. In order to bridge the gap in literature on service learning in a socialist, communist, and Southeast Asian developing country, a framework for institutionalising service learning in Viet Nam is proposed, together with a set of tactics to support practitioners to sustain their service learning initiatives. I envisage that the framework will serve as a reference point for service learning initiatives in universities in the wider Asian region, particularly those with a Confucian heritage, ex-colonised territories, and developing countries.</p>

Contextualising Service Learning for Vietnamese Higher Education

<p><b>The term ‘service learning’ has appeared on the horizon of Vietnamese higher education in the past few decades and is one among a wide range of pedagogical approaches that have been imported from the West. ‘Looking outward’ (Nguyen & Tran, 2017), especially to the West, is a legacy of long-lasting foreign domination that has shaped political and social changes in Viet Nam. Despite its Western roots, the service learning approach also appears to have accommodated Vietnamese ideological influences associated with creating a more capable workforce, fulfilling socialist responsibilities, and cultivating Confucian moral values. This form of experiential learning is expected to respond to the dreams of the nation by producing young graduates who possess the expertise and ethics to meet Ho Chi Minh’s socialist ideology ‘Vừa hồng, vừa chuyên’ (Both socialist-minded and professionally competent), who are better prepared for a modernised and globalised workforce. Driven by these ideologies, service learning has become increasingly popular in Vietnamese universities. Yet, despite the widespread adoption of the approach, the contextualisation of service learning is underexplored in academic research. This study aims to address the research gap by investigating the inception, challenges and opportunities, and implications for the growth and expansion of service learning in Vietnamese context.</b></p> <p> This multisite case study, which involved participants from four universities in Viet Nam, employed an interpretivist paradigm and Kuan-Hsing Chen’s (2010) Asia as Method as theoretical orientations. An interpretivist lens enabled an exploration of the subjective experiences of those who have been involved in service learning projects and the meanings they construct. Meanwhile, Asia as Method highlighted the specificity of the local context and offered a more radical edge to an interpretivist lens, particularly in terms of proposing changes to service learning in Vietnamese higher education. A reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2019) of interview, document, and observation data revealed three distinguishing features of service learning in Vietnamese higher education: the importance of communities as a means for educational change, the challenges associated with navigating power relationships, and the significance of benevolence as moral value.</p> <p>My findings suggested important implications for policy development and service learning practices in Vietnamese higher education. In order to bridge the gap in literature on service learning in a socialist, communist, and Southeast Asian developing country, a framework for institutionalising service learning in Viet Nam is proposed, together with a set of tactics to support practitioners to sustain their service learning initiatives. I envisage that the framework will serve as a reference point for service learning initiatives in universities in the wider Asian region, particularly those with a Confucian heritage, ex-colonised territories, and developing countries.</p>

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Online Learning in Higher Education: A Vietnamese Case

<p style="text-align: justify;">The article mentions the impact of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on online learning in Vietnamese higher education in 2020. This is a qualitative case study, by using in-depth interviews to explore the changes in the perception, methods, and orientation of online learning of students and lecturers at a key pedagogical university when experiencing the three COVID-19 outbreaks in Vietnam. The findings show that the COVID-19 pandemic has a positive impact on the developmental orientation of online learning at the Vietnamese higher education level. Even though at the time of an outbreak, opposition and dissatisfaction with online learning occurred; but through the three outbreaks, together with the efforts of lecturers and students, online learning in Vietnam has recorded remarkable achievements. This is a prerequisite for the development of online education and the innovation of digital technology in education.</p>

Research on Resources and Environment of Vietnam’s Higher Education System in Accordance with U21 Ranking of National Higher Education Systems

The network of research universities - Universitas 21 (U21) has developed a global ranking which examines 24 measures of performance indicators across four areas: Resources, Environment, Connectivity, and Output (called U21 Ranking of National Higher Education Systems) to assess the national higher education systems. In which, Resources and Environment are input variables, Connectivity and Output are outcomes. This paper will study Vietnam's policy environment and resources, corresponding to two input measures of the ranking: Resources and Environment. The paper also reviews the experiences of some countries, the current situation of resources, and the impact of the policies on national higher education compared to Vietnam. The authors have proposed six solutions on Resource and Environment to improve the position of the Vietnamese higher education system with the expectation that the higher education system of Vietnam will create positive changes and be in the Top 50 best national higher education systems of U21 Ranking.

Professional Development Experiences Of English As A Foreign Language Lecturers At A Vietnamese University

<p><b>As a consequence of globalisation, English language teaching (ELT) has been identified as one of the key emphases of the national education reforms in Vietnam. Professional development (PD) of teachers attempts to enhance the quality of ELT. However, there is a paucity of research investigating English as a foreign language (EFL) lecturers’ perceptions towards their experiences of PD in order to understand how PD currently functions and could potentially function within the context of Vietnamese higher education. My project has sought to address this gap by contributing insights into tertiary EFL lecturers’ PD experiences. More specifically, this study has drawn on Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) ecological systems theory and Knowles’ (1980) andragogy theory as theoretical frameworks for understanding how tertiary EFL lecturers experience PD as adult learners and the contextual factors which influence their PD experiences. A phenomenological research design as proposed by Moustakas (1994) enabled lecturers’ lived experiences of PD to be explored through phenomenological interviews with 12 EFL lecturers across the three groups of beginning, midcareer, and late-career and four academic managers at one Vietnamese university. The recruitment of the participants from the three groups aimed to examine lecturers’ experiences of PD at their different career stages. The inclusion of both lecturers and academic managers was considered essential in collecting multiple perspectives on the PD experiences. In addition, document analysis was used to collect information from national and institutional documents in order to better understand the contexts within which lecturers experienced PD. </b></p> <p>Evidence from this study highlights that lecturers’ PD is a multidimensional and dynamic activity. Influenced by the national language reforms and important projects such as Project 2020 and Project 911, EFL lecturers had been exposed to a wide range of formal PD activities (e.g., seminars, workshops, and conferences) and job-embedded PD activities (e.g., research projects, textbook and teaching material development, and professional meetings) in the three years prior to data collection. Lecturers expressed their need for further PD activities that were content-focused, on-going, collaborative, and specific to their career-stage. EFL lecturers’ involvement in PD activities was positively influenced by enablers (e.g., the status of English as a global language, national policies and projects, student outcomes, occupational prestige, and personal responsibility), but there were also barriers hampering lecturers’ career development (e.g., top-down national requirements, inappropriate institutional policies, insufficient collegial and managerial support, and time constraints). This study demonstrates that PD initiatives for Vietnamese tertiary EFL lecturers need to be reformed. At the national level, it is important for the Vietnamese government and MOET to understand lecturers’ real needs for PD when implementing any PD activities. At the institutional level, a comprehensive framework with specific requirements and guidelines regarding lecturers’ engagement in PD activities would bring greater coherence and consistency. At the individual level, a proactive role by EFL lecturers would further foster their professional growth along with fulfilling the national and institutional requirements. </p> <p>The findings of this study are represented through an integrated framework of effective PD for tertiary EFL lecturers which combines three main aspects of content, context, and process. This representation helps to shed light on what PD planners and academic managers need to focus on when planning, organising, and implementing PD activities in the setting of Vietnamese education reforms. Implications are drawn for PD planners, academic managers, and EFL lecturers as these groups need to closely collaborate in order to promote lecturers’ PD and improve the quality of ELT in Vietnam. Implications for future research are also discussed. The study makes significant contributions to current literature related to tertiary EFL lecturers’ lived experiences of PD within the Vietnamese higher education context and may be applied to other international contexts.</p>