NEW LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING ENVIRONMENTS

Innovation in
Language Learning
and Teaching
The Case of Vietnam
and Cambodia
Edited by
Linh Phung · Hayo Reinders
Vu Phi Ho Pham
New Language Learning and Teaching
Environments

Series Editor
Hayo Reinders
Department of Education
Department of Languages
Anaheim University
King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi
Anaheim
Bangkok, USA
New Language Learning and Teaching Environments is an exciting new
book series edited by Hayo Reinders, dedicated to recent developments in
learner-centred approaches and the impact of technology on learning and
teaching inside and outside the language classroom. The series aims to:

• Publish cutting-edge research into current developments and inno-

vation in language learning and teaching practice.
• Publish applied accounts of the ways in which these developments
impact on current and future language education.
• Encourage dissemination and cross-fertilisation of policies and prac-
tice relating to learner-centred pedagogies for language learning and
teaching in new learning environments.
• Disseminate research and best practice in out-of-class and informal
language learning.

The series is a multidisciplinary forum for the very latest developments in

language education, taking a pedagogic approach with a clear focus on the
learner, and with clear implications for both researchers and language
practitioners. It is the first such series to provide an outlet for researchers
to publish their work, and the first stop for teachers interested in this area.
 Linh Phung • Hayo Reinders
Vu Phi Ho Pham
Editors

Innovation in
Language Learning
and Teaching
The Case of Vietnam and Cambodia
Editors
Linh Phung Hayo Reinders
Eduling International Faculty of Liberal Arts
Pittsburgh, PA, USA King Mongkut’s University of
Technology Thonburi
Vu Phi Ho Pham Bangkok, Thailand
Faculty of Foreign Languages
Van Lang University
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

ISSN 2946-2932     ISSN 2946-2940 (electronic)

New Language Learning and Teaching Environments
ISBN 978-3-031-46079-1    ISBN 978-3-031-46080-7 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46080-7

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 Contents

1 An
 Overview of the Innovation in Language Teaching
and Learning in Vietnam and Cambodia  1
Vu Phi Ho Pham, Hayo Reinders, and Linh Phung

Part I Program and Curriculum Developoment  13

2 Using
 Environment and Needs Analyses to Innovate an
Intensive English Course in Transnational Bachelor’s
Programs 15
Tuan Nhat Nguyen and Huong Thi Bao Dinh

3 Out
 of the Ordinary: Implementation of a New Japanese
Language Program in Higher Education in Vietnam 33
Eriko Yamato

4 A
 Trilingual K-12 Program in Siem Reap: Reflecting on
Successes and Failures 51
Stephen Louw, Raksmey Rath, and Wenwen Tian

5 Harnessing
 Partnerships and Technology to Establish a
New Language Program in Cambodia 73
Joseph Ng and Patrick Mannion

v
vi Contents

Part II Materials Development and Teaching Methodology  91

6 A
 Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Approach to
Materials Development: Teaching Vietnamese as a Second
Language to Ethnic Minority Primary School Students 93
Thao Phuong Do, Hoa Do, and Linh Phung

7 Pronunciation
 Teaching Innovation in the English as a
Foreign Language Classroom115
Loc Tan Nguyen

8 Using
 a Mock Conference as an Innovative Internship
Activity for Translation Education135
Nguyen Thi Nhu Ngoc

Part III Technology Integration 155

9 Enhancing
 Student Participation in Online Collaborative
Learning Groups, Using a Design Framework and
Accessible Technologies157
Vu Thi Thanh Nha

10 Revitalizing
 Language Education: An Exploratory Study
on the Innovative Use of Mobile Applications in English
Language Teaching at a State University in Vietnam183
Nghi Tin Tran, Phuc Huu Tran, and Vu Phi Ho Pham

11 Factors
 Affecting EFL Lecturers’ Implementation of
Blended Learning in Vietnamese Universities209
Thi Nguyet Le

12 Innovation
 in Language Teaching in Vietnam and
Cambodia: Key Themes235
Linh Phung, Hayo Reinders, and Vu Phi Ho Pham

Index243
 Notes on Contributors

Huong Thi Bao Dinh Dean of the Postgraduate Studies Department of

Hanoi University, Hanoi, Vietnam, obtained her PhD in Education from
RMIT University, Australia, in 2015. She has been teaching a range of
courses for both undergraduate and postgraduate students, and supervis-
ing MA and PhD students in English Studies. Her main areas of interest
are ICT in English teaching and TESOL Methodology. She can be con-
tacted at huongdtb@hanu.edu.vn
Hoa Do has been working as an English language teacher for 15 years,
helping students of different age groups and levels in Vietnam and Australia
to improve their general and academic language skills. She gained her
Master’s degree in Applied Linguistics in 2013 from Victoria University of
Wellington, New Zealand, and is currently a PhD student at Department
of Languages and Cultures, La Trobe University, Australia. Her main
research interests include instructed second language acquisition, teacher
training, heritage language maintenance, language-­ in-­
education policy
and family language policy among transnational migrant communities.
Thao Phuong Do is a lecturer at Faculty of Vietnamese Studies, Hanoi
National University of Education. She completed a Master in Linguistics
degree and a Bachelor in Philology from Faculty of Philology, Hanoi
National University of Education. She earned a Doctorate in Education
with a focus on the theory and teaching methods of literature and
Vietnamese at Hanoi National University of Education. Her dissertation
is titled “Develop Vietnamese lexical competence for Korean students

vii
viii NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

from the perspective of Cognitive Linguistics.” She has researched and

taught Vietnamese language for foreigners since 2009. She has over ten
articles and three co-authored books. Her research focuses on Linguistics,
Vietnamese language, and teaching Vietnamese as a first and a second
language. She can be reached via email at thaodp@hnue.edu.vn
Thi Nguyet Le has been working as a senior lecturer of English language
at People’s Security University, Vietnam, for over 20 years. She achieved a
doctoral degree at School of Education, Edith Cowan University, Western
Australia. She has also been in charge of teaching and supervision for post-
graduate candidates at other Vietnamese universities. Her research inter-
ests focus on blended learning, TESOL methodology, ESP and EMI.
Stephen Louw is a lecturer and researcher at King Mongkut’s University
of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok. He has taught English as a foreign
language since 1992 in countries across Africa and Asia. His area of exper-
tise is teacher education, particularly intensive pre-service teacher training
of EFL teachers. His current interest is teacher development in Cambodia.
Patrick Mannion has been an EFL instructor for over 20 years and lan-
guage educator for about 3 years. His research interests include language
teacher education, multimodality, and genre approaches to literacy. He
taught language teacher education courses in Cambodia as a fellow in the
US State Department’s English Language Programs.
Joseph Ng has been teaching and heading up the English Department at
Life University, Sihanoukville, Cambodia, from 2017. Certified as an
OCELT instructor and a PTCT and TESL trainer with TESL Ontario, he
has taught settlement English, prepared internationally trained profession-
als for the Canadian workplace, and developed online curricula of late.
Nguyen Thi Nhu Ngoc is currently vice-dean cum chair of the
Department of Translation and Interpreting at the Faculty of English
Linguistics and Literature, University of Social Sciences & Humanities,
Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City. She has taught the
English language and worked as a translation teacher and part-time trans-
lator since 1997. She was also a co-author of some ESP textbooks pub-
lished by VNUHCM Publisher and used at her university. Her main
research interests are Translation Studies, Comparative Linguistics, and
Intercultural Communication. Email: nhungoc@hcmussh.edu.vn.
 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS ix

Tuan Nhat Nguyen is the director of the International Education

Center, home to transnational programs at Hanoi University. Nhat Tuan
holds a PhD in Translation Studies, granted by Dublin City University
(Ireland). His areas of expertise include translation studies, curriculum
and syllabus development, TESOL, and EMI. He can be contacted at
tuannn@hanu.edu.vn
Loc Tan Nguyen is a senior lecturer at the School of Foreign Languages,
UEH University, Vietnam. Dr. Loc Tan Nguyen obtained his PhD in
Applied Linguistics from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand,
in 2019. He has been teaching a range of English courses (both under-
graduate and graduate levels), including phonetics and phonology, pro-
nunciation, academic writing, and curriculum design. Loc’s research
focuses on pronunciation teaching and learning, academic writing, teacher
cognition, second language teacher education, corrective feedback, and
professional learning for language teachers. He can be contacted at loc.
nguyen@ueh.edu.vn
Vu Thi Thanh Nha obtained a PhD in Education at the University of
New South Wales, Australia, in 2014. She is also the dean of the Faculty
of English, VNU University of Languages and International Studies,
VNU-HN. Her research interests include educational change, classroom-
based research, technology-based teaching, English as a medium of
instruction, and professional development at the tertiary level.
Vu Phi Ho Pham vice dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages, associ-
ate professor, Van Lang University, Vietnam, vice president of AsiaCALL
International Conference. He has also served as the vice president of Ba
Ria—Vung Tau University and the vice president at Van Hien University,
Vietnam. Pham has published 64 research articles in both local and inter-
national journals (ISI/Scopus-­indexed), and nine books and course books,
three course books were used for both the undergraduate and graduate
levels at Van Lang University, HCMC Open University, Vietnam, and
Lourdes College, Higher Education Department, Cagayan de Oro City,
Philippines. He has international experience in teaching English at
Suranaree University of Technology, Thailand, and Gyeongju University,
South Korea. He is the vice president for Administrative Affairs of
AsiaCALL and the managing editor of its online journal. He is now the
editor-in-chief of the international journal of TESOL & Education. He is
a peer reviewer for some international journals indexed in ISI/Scopus
x NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

such as Computer Assisted Language Learning, Open Sage. His main

interests include academic writing, peer responses, translation, teaching
methodologies, and technology-enhanced learning. His CV may be found
at https://www.phamho.com/c-­v; his Orcid ID; Scopus ID; Google
Scholar profile
Linh Phung is founder of Eduling, an organization offering English lan-
guage instruction, services, and technologies to language teachers and
learners from all over the world and assistant professor of TESOL at
Anaheim University. She also has experience in directing the English
Language Program at Chatham University for 12 years and currently
serves as an English Language Specialist with the U.S. Department of
State. Her research interests include learner engagement in second lan-
guage learning and teaching, task-based language teaching, educational
technology, and international education. She has published research in
high-­impact journals, language learning and children’s books, and a task-
based app called Eduling Speak with over 1000+ tasks for language devel-
opment and research. She can be reached at ltp252@gmail.com or www.
eduling.org/drlinhphung.
Raksmey Rath is school director of the Westgate International Schools
in Siem Reap, Cambodia. He has been involved in school management for
over 20 years, and has developed and opened 12 languages and K12
schools in Cambodia and Vietnam.
Hayo Reinders (www.innovationinteaching.org) is TESOL professor
and director of Research at Anaheim University, USA, and professor of
Applied Linguistics at KMUTT in Thailand. He is founder of the Global
Institute for Teacher Leadership and editor of Innovation in Language
Learning & Teaching. He has published 31 books and over 200 articles in
the areas of out-of-class learning, technology, and language teacher
leadership.
Wenwen Tian holds her MA and PhD in Applied Linguistics as well as
certificates in CELTA and TEFL. She is currently an associate professor in
the School of Foreign Studies, Northwestern Polytechnical University,
China. Over the last 20 years, she has worked as an English lecturer and
coordinator for international affairs in China, Saudi Arabia, and Thailand.
Her research interests include discourse analysis, academic supervision,
intercultural communication, and teacher development.
 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS xi

Nghi Tin Tran Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Ho Chi Minh
City University of Industry and Trade. Dr. Nghi Tin Tran is an experi-
enced educator and researcher interested in second language acquisition
and pedagogy. His work focuses on developing and implementing effec-
tive teaching methodologies, using corpus-based techniques in language
teaching, AI in education, and the role of literacy in second language
learning. He has a strong record of scholarly publications in prestigious
Scopus-indexed journals. His commitment to ongoing professional devel-
opment is evident through his active involvement in leading organizations
like VietTESOL, STESOL, and VietCALL. Dr. Nghi Tin Tran can be
contacted at nghitt@huit.edu.vn. (Orcid), (Scopus), (Google Scholar)
Phuc Huu Tran is currently the Rector of University of Foreign
Language Studies—the University of Da Nang. He is also the chairman of
the CTESOL, a part of the Association of Vietnam Universities and
Colleges. He holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics, granted by University of
the West of England, Bristol, UK, in 2013. His research interests are
teaching English as a foreign language, corpus linguistics, and cognitive
linguistics. He can be contacted at thphuc@ufl.udn.vn (Scopus), (Google
Scholar)
Eriko Yamato is a senior lecturer at RMIT University Vietnam, special-
izing in digitally enhanced Japanese language learning. Her research inter-
ests include cultural studies, critical pedagogy, and innovative approaches
to cultural and language exchange.
 List of Figures

Fig. 4.1 Summary of the trilingual transitional immersion curriculum 57

Fig. 9.1 A typical lesson structure for a Zoom session 168
Fig. 9.2 Reported benefits of group work 171
Fig. 11.1 A conceptual framework for the Vietnamese university
lecturers to manage their implementation of blended learning
in EFL education 227

xiii
 List of Tables

Table 2.1 Checklist for situation (environment) analysis 21

Table 2.2 Examples of learning outcomes 27
Table 6.1 Example practice activity 104
Table 6.2 Percentage of teachers rating the materials as meeting criteria 106
Table 6.3 The necessity of the materials 106
Table 6.4 Feasibility of materials use 107
Table 7.1 Celce-Murcia et al.’s (2010, p. 45) CPT framework 120
Table 7.2 The teachers’ proportion of lesson planning 121
Table 9.1 Descriptions of communication tools for online group work 163
Table 9.2 Examples of group setup by theme 167
Table 9.3 Assessment criteria for group assignment 167
Table 9.4 A summary of students’ responses to the evaluation
questionnaire170
Table 9.5 Favorite aspects of group work 172
Table 9.6 Unfavorable aspects of group work 173
Table 10.1 Demographic characteristics of participants 188
Table 10.2 Frequency of mobile app usage 189
Table 10.3 Most useful mobile apps for language learning 190
Table 10.4 Frequency and duration of mobile app usage in language
learning190
Table 10.5 Perceived improvement of language learning outcomes
through mobile app usage 191
Table 10.6 Advantages and disadvantages of mobile app usage 192
Table 11.1 Underlying factors negatively affecting the EFL lecturers’
implementation of BL 223

xv
 CHAPTER 1

An Overview of the Innovation in Language

Teaching and Learning in Vietnam
and Cambodia

Vu Phi Ho Pham, Hayo Reinders, and Linh Phung

Rationales for Innovation in Language Teaching

Innovation in language teaching refers to the planned adoption and inte-
gration of effective pedagogical strategies, technological advancements,
and methodology to improve the learning process. It entails the inventive
adaptation of instructional approaches, the use of innovative instruments,
and the acceptance of developing trends in language education. Innovation
in language teaching often seeks to promote engagement, competency,
and cultural awareness in addition to addressing the learners’ changing

V. P. H. Pham (*)
Faculty of Foreign Languages, Van Lang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
H. Reinders
Faculty of Liberal Arts, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi,
Bangkok, Thailand
L. Phung
Eduling International, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1

Switzerland AG 2024
L. Phung et al. (eds.), Innovation in Language Learning and
Teaching, New Language Learning and Teaching Environments,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46080-7_1
2 V. P. H. PHAM ET AL.

needs. According to Thornbury (2006), innovation in language teaching

extends beyond conventional approaches, inspiring teachers to consider
creative means of presenting material, encouraging interactive learning,
and making the most of digital resources. Language teachers contribute to
a dynamic and adaptable learning environment by regularly re-evaluating
and improving their teaching methods.
A number of persuasive arguments in the field of language education
underscore the necessity for constant innovation in instructional proce-
dures and approaches. First, the understanding of the dynamic character
of language itself serves as one main justification. Language, according to
Baugh and Cable (1993), is a living thing that changes through time as a
result of social, technological, and communication trends. To remain rel-
evant and sensitive to the current linguistic landscape, language instruc-
tion must alter to reflect these changes. Second, the recognition of the
various learning preferences and styles among language learners serves as
another essential justification. Educators may foster a more inclusive and
productive learning environment by combining effective educational prac-
tices (Richards & Rodgers, 2014). The development of technology, in
particular, opens up possibilities for multimodal learning experiences that
accommodate visual, aural, and kinesthetic learners. Additionally, the need
to prepare language learners for communication in a world that is becom-
ing more networked is highlighted by globalization and interconnection.
According to Byram (1997), language instruction improvements should
foster linguistic and intercultural communicative ability. This instruction
entails giving students the know-how to successfully navigate cross-­
cultural dialogue, encouraging a better comprehension of various view-
points, and promoting global citizenship. Another justification for
innovation is the requirement for higher levels of learner motivation and
engagement. Modern language learners react well to interactive and
dynamic learning experiences because they are frequently engaged in a
digital and multimedia-rich environment (Khamparia & Pandey, 2018).
Teachers may build engaging language learning settings that pique stu-
dents’ attention and heighten their inherent drive to interact with the
language by using effective technologies and approaches. This introduc-
tory chapter will provide an overview of language teaching in Vietnam and
Cambodia, followed by a review of top-down and bottom-up innovations
in language teaching in the two countries. The final section will summa-
rize the ten chapters of this volume.
 1 AN OVERVIEW OF THE INNOVATION IN LANGUAGE TEACHING… 3

Overview of Language Teaching in Vietnam

and Cambodia

The complex and dynamic nature of language teaching and learning in

Vietnam and Cambodia reflects the historical, political, social, and eco-
nomic situations of these two nations. With 54 ethnic groups and 110
languages, Vietnam is a multilingual and cosmopolitan nation (Nguyen &
Nguyen, 2019). The majority of schools and institutions use Vietnamese
as their primary language of instruction, although the government also
supports and recognizes other languages spoken by ethnic minorities.
English, in particular, is highly prized and pushed in school since it is seen
to be crucial for global integration and advancement.
Over the last several decades, Vietnam and Cambodia’s language edu-
cation has experienced many changes and reforms as a result of numerous
internal and external forces. The colonial legacies of French and Chinese
languages and cultures have influenced the Vietnamese language and edu-
cational systems. Additionally, wars and disputes with other nations,
including France, the US, and China, have influenced Vietnam’s national
identity and ideology (Nguyen & Nguyen, 2019). In the case of Cambodia,
language learning and instruction have a long and varied history. Thai
language (in the seventh century), French (between 1863 and 1954),
Vietnamese and Russian (after the 1970s) all had an impact on the coun-
try (Hum, 2021).
Implementing and assessing language education in Vietnam confronts
several obstacles, including a shortage of trained instructors, authentic
materials, multimedia technologies, and internet connection (Nguyen &
Nguyen, 2019; Giao & Nguyen, 2021; Nguyen et al., 2021). Second,
there needs to be better understanding and preparedness to accept new
language teaching and learning approaches and innovations, such as com-
municative language teaching (CLT), learner autonomy, learner-­
centeredness, and EMI (Giao & Nguyen, 2021; Nguyen et al., 2021).
Third, there is a lack of coordination and coherence between the teaching
and learning of languages and other facets of the educational system, such
as the curriculum, syllabus, textbook, and assessment system (Nguyen &
Nguyen, 2019; Nguyen et al., 2021). Last but not least, ineffectiveness in
language assessment and language teaching and learning has been widely
reported (Nguyen & Nguyen, 2019; Nguyen et al., 2021). In the case of
Cambodia, some significant challenges and issues that affect the quality
and effectiveness of language education include the lack of qualified and
4 V. P. H. PHAM ET AL.

trained teachers, the low proficiency and motivation of learners, the inad-
equate resources and facilities, the outdated curriculum and assessment
methods, the influence of traditional teaching culture, and the impact of
social and political factors (Doeur, 2022; Heng et al., 2022).
The history and development of language teaching and learning in
Vietnam and Cambodia are closely related to the political, economic, and
social changes. In Vietnam, since the Doi Moi (Renovation) policy in
1986 (Nguyen, 2017a) has marked a significant difference in the country.
This policy led to significant achievements in terms of GDP growth and
foreign direct investment, which in turn influenced the demand and sup-
ply of English as a foreign language (EFL) instruction in Vietnam. In
Cambodia, various initiatives and reforms have been implemented by the
government, educational institutions, and other stakeholders to improve
the situation of ELT in the country. First, the introduction of a new cur-
riculum framework for general education in 2015, which emphasizes com-
municative language teaching and learner-centered approaches (MoEYS,
2015); the collaboration with international organizations and donors,
such as UNESCO, UNICEF, USAID, British Council, and Australian
Aid, to support various projects and programs related to ELT in Cambodia.
There has also been a growth of exchange opportunities and funding pro-
grams for teachers and students in Cambodia to study abroad or attend
regional seminars and conferences.

Top-down Innovation in Language Teaching

Language policy is a set of decisions and actions that aim to regulate, man-
age, and promote the use and development of languages in a given context
(Ricento, 2006). Various actors and agencies can initiate and implement
language policy, such as governments, institutions, communities, or indi-
viduals. Depending on the source and direction of the policy, language
policy can be classified into two types: top-down and bottom-up (Kaplan
& Baldauf, 2008). Top-down language policy is a type of policy formu-
lated and imposed by a central authority, such as a government or an
institution, on the target population or group. On the contrary, bottom-
­up language policy is initiated and developed at the grassroots level, such
as a community or an individual, based on their needs and interests.
In Cambodia, top-down innovation in language teaching refers to the
changes and reforms initiated by the government and other authorities to
improve the quality and effectiveness of language education. First, a new
 1 AN OVERVIEW OF THE INNOVATION IN LANGUAGE TEACHING… 5

curriculum framework for general education was introduced in 2005,

emphasizing communicative language teaching and learner-centered
approaches (Kosonen, 2019). The second top-down innovation referred
to expanding scholarship programs and exchange opportunities for
Cambodian teachers and students to study abroad or attend regional
workshops and conferences (Igawa, 2008). Third, the collaboration with
international organizations and donors has supported various projects and
programs related to language education in Cambodia (Dy &
Ninomiya, 2003).
In Vietnam, there has also been a top-down innovation, particularly the
government-issued Project 2020, relating to the teaching and learning of
the English language. Project 2020, also known as the National Foreign
Language Project 2020 (Chinhphu.vn, 2008), aims to improve the
English proficiency of Vietnamese learners and teachers by 2020 (Bui,
2022; Nguyen, 2017b; Van, 2015). The project was launched in 2008 by
the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) with the approval of the
prime minister. The project has five main goals. The first is to create a
national framework for foreign language proficiency that is compatible
with the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), the sec-
ond is to make English language instruction mandatory from Grades 3
through 12, the third is to introduce English as a medium of instruction
(EMI) for mathematics and science subjects in upper secondary schools,
the fourth is to enhance English teachers’ English language proficiency
(ELP) and pedagogical knowledge, and the fifth goal is to develop a model
for teaching English as a second language at selected universities.
As it demonstrates the government’s acknowledgment of the signifi-
cance and function of English as an international language in the context
of globalization and integration, the initiative is seen as a breakthrough
and an innovation in language policy and planning in Vietnam. The proj-
ect also aims to address some of the problems and challenges currently
plaguing English teaching and learning in Vietnam, such as the low ELP
levels among students and teachers, the absence of coordination between
the curriculum, assessment, and standards, and the dominance of tradi-
tional teaching methods and rote learning (Nguyen & Nguyen, 2019).
6 V. P. H. PHAM ET AL.

Bottom-up Innovations in Language Teaching

Bottom-up innovations are initiatives and actions that originate from the
grassroots level, such as teachers, students, parents, or communities, to
improve the quality and effectiveness of education (Kaplan & Baldauf,
2008). Bottom-up innovations can be seen as a response to the limitations
and challenges of top-down policies and reforms that are imposed by a
central authority, such as the government or the Ministry of Education.
Bottom-up innovations can also be seen as a reflection of the needs and
interests of the local context and culture.
In both Cambodia and Vietnam, the teachers and learners take the
initiative to make changes and reforms to improve the quality and effec-
tiveness of language education in the countries. Teachers have used online
learning platforms and digital tools to facilitate language teaching and
learning during the COVID-19 pandemic (Pham & Vo, 2021), creating
professional learning communities and networks among language teachers
and researchers to share experiences, resources, and best practices for lan-
guage education (Doeur, 2022), involving learners in the design and
implementation of language learning activities that suit their needs, inter-
ests, and goals.

In This Volume
Inspired by the top-down innovation policies, language teachers in both
Vietnam and Cambodia implemented their innovative teaching methods
into their professional contexts. In Chap. 2, Nguyen and Dinh examined
how a public institution in Hanoi, Vietnam, adapted its curriculum to fit
the demands of transnational undergraduate programs in Business Studies.
The Intensive English Course track was initially targeted to meet the
IELTS 5.5 admission criteria for an English as a Medium of Instruction
(EMI) program. However, difficulties occurred when students had to
grapple with subject-specific terminology and international academic stan-
dards. The authors and their team used Macalister and Nation’s (2019)
curriculum design method to improve the program, including environ-
ment and needs analyses relevant to EMI programs where students would
later enroll. The backward design highlighted critical long-term outcomes,
leading to the development of a more comprehensive English course. The
innovation helps to enhance transnational education in Vietnam by
 1 AN OVERVIEW OF THE INNOVATION IN LANGUAGE TEACHING… 7

bridging gaps across educational levels and providing a strong basis for
students’ following studies.
In Chap. 3, Eriko Yamato introduces the Vietnam-specific Bachelor
Japanese language program of HCMC RMIT University Vietnam, which
has been implementing participatory, active language learning since 2017.
It emphasizes genuine assessment, interactive digital learning, and com-
munity participation to match the university’s aims. The writer describes
the program’s framework to generate work-ready trilingual graduates.
The unique use of hybrid-mode “flipped classrooms” and “authentic
assessment” without textbooks preserves program integrity and signifies
its core innovation. The merits and downsides of various techniques are
discussed using student feedback, industry input, and teacher comments
to inform language program development.
In Chap. 4, Louw and Reaksmey reported the launch of Siem Reap’s
first trilingual K-12 curriculum in 2016, including Khmer, English, and
Chinese. The curriculum used the transitional immersion program design
to blend content instruction and language acquisition. The authors then
used interpretative phenomenology to assess the program from English,
Khmer, and Chinese department heads’ viewpoints. Results showed dif-
fering views of achievements and failures, suggesting a lack of interdepart-
mental collaboration due to rivalry for students’ classroom time and school
resources. This perspective is essential for comprehending the challenges
in implementing innovation from administrators’ perspectives.
In Chap. 5, Ng and Mannion present details of the development of a
new MA in English program in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. The authors
discuss their participation in curriculum creation and execution against the
backdrop of a city undergoing fast expansion and an institution with lim-
ited or diminishing finances and support. The quest for alternate sources
of assistance, the utilization of technology, and the fortunate collaboration
of key stakeholders are highlighted. The difficulties encountered are also
documented, which is instructional to similar endeavors.
In Chap. 6, through developing and piloting a Grade 5 Vietnamese
practice book, Do et al. provide an innovative way to teach Vietnamese to
ethnic minority primary children in Vietnam. The project employed a cul-
turally and linguistically responsive technique to create pedagogically
sound resources for effectively acquiring Vietnamese as a second language
(L2). Materials, such as texts and visuals, were carefully chosen to reflect
students’ cultural beliefs and traditions while also promoting language
acquisition through familiarity with their home language. Teachers have
8 V. P. H. PHAM ET AL.

responded positively to the book’s culturally relevant visual components,

role models, texts, and learning activities. Following a review of the mate-
rial pilot and teacher comments, the writers underline the need for con-
tinuing efforts to offer varied and comprehensive resources that appeal to
all ethnic minority groups.
In Chap. 7, T. L. Nguyen suggests that pronunciation instruction be
revised to go beyond an ad hoc approach, typically consisting of incidental
recasts and/or prompts, despite empirical data demonstrating the effec-
tiveness of communicative pronunciation training on second language
learners’ comprehension and/or intelligibility. This may be due to the fact
that instructors often need more training on how to incorporate commu-
nicative pronunciation training into their language programs successfully.
The chapter reports a project in which a group of six Vietnamese tertiary
EFL instructors introduced communicative pronunciation instruction
into their English courses. A detailed review of successes and challenges
helps to inform other efforts in implementing pronunciation instruction
in Vietnam and beyond.
In Chap. 8, Nguyen Thi Nhu Ngoc presents a mock conference (MC)
that has been introduced into the graduate internship course for final year
English translation students at a member university of Vietnam National
University, Ho Chi Minh City. This novel technique gives seniors hands-
­on experience in the professional preparatory processes for successive con-
ference interpretation. The MC design comprises research articles provided
by Vietnamese teachers and administrators from multiple university facul-
ties, as well as an authentic situated-learning environment. A poll com-
pleted in the school year 2022–2023 reviews the innovation after four
years of deployment. The writer examines mock conferences, discusses the
design and organization process, and evaluates students’ input on organi-
zation, lecturer assistance, advantages, obstacles, and performance vari-
ables. The findings have significance for preparing translation majors with
professional knowledge and abilities.
In Chap. 9, Vu Thi Thanh Nha discusses how Vietnamese English
Language Teaching (ELT) teachers dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic,
particularly group work and online student interaction. Online group col-
laboration (FCOG) and locally accessible technology were used in the
action research project with 25 postgraduate students in an English-­
medium course. Students worked in asynchronous and synchronous
groups for 12 online sessions. Results included improved communication
and collaboration, academic advancements in critical thinking and
 1 AN OVERVIEW OF THE INNOVATION IN LANGUAGE TEACHING… 9

knowledge, and peer support. Time management, technological difficul-

ties, involvement, group dynamics, work distribution, and complexity
were challenges. The study emphasizes the need for novel online learning
solutions for future education and research.
In Chap. 10, Nghi Tin Tran et al. examine how mobile applications are
used to teach English at a Vietnamese university to improve students’ lan-
guage abilities, engagement, and motivation. The study assesses these
applications’ effects on student perceptions and instructor expectations.
Mobile apps may motivate and engage students in student-centered edu-
cation. Interactive learning experiences through these applications boost
attitudes and English learning engagement, suggesting its role in innovat-
ing language education. The writers strongly advise language instructors
and policymakers to use modern teaching methods and technology to
build dynamic and effective learning settings that meet today’s language
learners’ diversified needs.
In Chap. 11, Thi Nguyet Le examines blended learning (BL) in
Vietnamese university EFL programs and its confusion and ineffective-
ness. The study of 20 EFL professors from ten institutions found that
personal, institutional, and socio-cultural/economic variables affect BL
integration. Personal elements include instructors’ views, pedagogies, and
agency. Policy, technology, and professional assistance are institutional ele-
ments. Confucian teachings and Vietnam’s economy are socio-cultural
and economic variables. Personal and institutional variables align for effec-
tive BL implementation, but socio-cultural and economic considerations
typically provide hurdles. The chapter presents conceptual implications for
efficient BL implementation in Vietnamese EFL instruction.

Conclusion
In conclusion, this introductory chapter has explored various innovations
in language teaching and learning in Vietnam and Cambodia. These inno-
vations have emerged from both top-down policies and bottom-up class-
room practices, aiming to enhance language education and meet the
evolving needs of learners. At the policy level in Vietnam, the govern-
ment’s implementation of Project 2020 has been a significant top-down
innovation. In Cambodia, the government has implemented a new cur-
riculum framework for general education to promote communicative lan-
guage teaching and learner-centered approaches and provide a wide range
of scholarship programs and collaboration with international partners to
10 V. P. H. PHAM ET AL.

support various projects and programs related to language education in

Cambodia. Furthermore, bottom-up innovations have emerged within
classrooms, with teachers implementing various approaches and methods
to enhance language learning. The employment of English as a Medium
of Instruction (EMI), flipped classrooms, backward design in curriculum
development, linguistically and culturally responsive pedagogy, communi-
cative pronunciation teaching, mock conferences for translation classes,
virtual classrooms, MALL, and blended learning have opened up new pos-
sibilities for language teaching and learning in Vietnam and Cambodia.
Looking ahead, the development of language teaching and learning in
Vietnam and Cambodia will continue to evolve. Future innovations may
focus on further integrating technology, such as ChatGPT and AI Tools,
addressing the needs of specific learner groups, and fostering intercultural
communicative competence. Policymakers, educators, and stakeholders
must collaborate and provide ongoing support to ensure the success and
sustainability of these innovations, ultimately contributing to the overall
advancement of language education in these two countries.

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 PART I

Program and Curriculum

Developoment
 CHAPTER 2

Using Environment and Needs Analyses

to Innovate an Intensive English Course
in Transnational Bachelor’s Programs

Tuan Nhat Nguyen and Huong Thi Bao Dinh

Introduction
Internationalization has been considered a strategic approach to improv-
ing and reforming the Vietnamese higher education system (Tran &
Nguyen, 2018). To achieve this goal, English as a Medium of Instruction
(EMI) programs at Vietnamese universities have been promoted as a key
player. EMI programs are seen as a modality to enrich the curriculum,
improve international collaboration, and improve institutional ranking
and reputation (ibid., p. 94). The implementation of EMI programs has
received considerable support from the government as well as the

T. N. Nguyen
International Education Center, Hanoi University, Hanoi, Vietnam
e-mail: tuannn@hanu.edu.vn
H. T. B. Dinh (*)
Postgraduate Studies Department, Hanoi University, Hanoi, Vietnam
e-mail: huongdtb@hanu.edu.vn

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 15

Switzerland AG 2024
L. Phung et al. (eds.), Innovation in Language Learning and
Teaching, New Language Learning and Teaching Environments,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46080-7_2
16 T. N. NGUYEN AND H. T. B. DINH

universities themselves. The number of both foreign and domestic EMI

programs in the country has increased dramatically over the last two
decades.
At the same time, there have been numerous discussions related to
students’ English language proficiency (ELP) and their ability to study in
an EMI environment. EMI programs are the second choice for a large
number of students in Vietnam when selecting a university program.
Consequently, most students enrolling in EMI programs have low entry
requirements and lack preparation for attending EMI courses.
Subsequently, students in many EMI programs struggle with lectures,
reading materials, assignments, or in-class discussions (Nguyen et al.,
2017). Even students with a high level of English proficiency face the chal-
lenge of adapting to an international environment where the academic
culture and requirements are completely different from those of Vietnamese
universities. Such a situation highlights the importance of establishing a
language course that not only enhances students’ ELP to meet the essen-
tial entry level but also prepares them for the academic requirements of
international universities. This issue needs to be addressed in a serious and
thorough manner, particularly when more and more universities are offer-
ing EMI degrees (Nguyen et al., 2016). This is the focus of the chapter,
which explores the redesign of learning activities in an English intensive
course in a transnational EMI bachelor’s program at a public university in
Vietnam.
Regarding the structure of the chapter, first, we review the role of
English in EMI programs. The chapter then gives information on
outcome-­based learning and Macalister and Nation’s (2012) curriculum
design model. The major part of the chapter focuses on a project con-
ducted at a public university in Hanoi, Vietnam, to redesign the syllabus
of an intensive English course in transnational programs following the
outcome-based learning approach with a focus on environment and need
analyses.

The Role of English in EMI Programs

Dafouz et al. (2016) argue that the implementation of EMI programs has
changed the function of English, from a subject to study to a tool of
knowledge acquisition in tertiary education. Firstly, it can be used as a
gatekeeper in the admissions process. The first and foremost requirement
for admission to the majority of EMI programs in most countries, whether
 2 USING ENVIRONMENT AND NEEDS ANALYSES TO INNOVATE… 17

Anglophone or non-Anglophone, is English proficiency, which is often

demonstrated by either internationally standardized English tests such as
IELTS or TOEFL or equivalent institutional tests. Secondly, English is
used as the medium of instruction for both teaching and learning activi-
ties. The role of English in an EMI environment varies according to the
amount of English use, and it can be categorized into three types
(Alexander, 2008, p. 82). The first is replacement programming, in which
the local language is replaced by English, which serves as the sole medium
of instruction from the beginning to the completion of a degree program.
Staff and students are, therefore, supposed to have sufficient English pro-
ficiency to perform effectively in this environment. The second type is
cumulative programs, which refers to a teaching environment where the
amount of English use goes up as students’ English proficiency levels up.
Finally, the additional type is used to describe situations in which English
is used as an assisting language to help international students transition
smoothly into academic environments where the local language is used as
the medium of instruction.
In brief, the implementation of EMI programs has led to a significant
shift in the way the role of English is seen in higher education. The para-
digm switched from the idea that English is a language that is taught and
learned in foreign language lessons to the viewpoint that English is a lin-
gua franca that can be used for both pedagogical and social purposes
(Dafouz, 2017). From a language teaching perspective, it means that
teaching should not only focus on training students to become successful
English learners who master all the rules and achieve proper results
in locally and internationally standardized tests but also assisting them in
becoming “highly skilled communicators” who can use their language
competence effectively for the sake of their interactions in the relevant
environment (Jenkins et al., 2011).

Outcome-based Learning
As part of the Bologna Process, which aimed to establish an accessible and
united European Higher Education Area, Outcome-Based Learning
(OBL) was hailed as a novel method for rethinking the educational experi-
ence at the university level in the European Union (Kennedy, 2009).
According to Driscoll and Wood (2007), an outcome-based approach to
education is one that encourages institutions to be held accountable for
their impact on students’ learning and fosters a culture of constant focus
18 T. N. NGUYEN AND H. T. B. DINH

on that impact. In their view, outcome-based learning is a method of

teaching in which the goals of instruction and evaluation both focus on
improving students’ ability to learn. As a matter of fact, learning is priori-
tized through the promotion of OBL which aims at “structuring every-
thing in an educational system around what is needed for all students to
be able to accomplish successfully at the end of their learning experiences”
(Spady, 1994, p. 1).
Kudlas (1994) argues that OBL is a method that centers on learning
outcomes. This approach entails continuing to work with students until
the desired result is achieved. In other words, what matters is “not the
score, label, grade, or percentage that someone adds to the performance,
but the improvement of students’ knowledge, competence and qualities
after they exit the educational system” (Spady, 1998, p. 25). For example,
the focus of an intensive English course in the preparatory stage for uni-
versity study should not only be the IELTS 5.5 but also that students who
complete the course can perform successfully in an academic environment
where English is used as a tool to express their critical thinking and under-
standing of a subject. Therefore, outcomes should be attainable, evalu-
able, and transparent. Outcomes should also identify what learners have
not accomplished, and reflect the result of learning, not process (Tavner,
2005). Consequently, curriculum, instruction, and evaluation are all
guided by learning objectives, or explicit expectations of what a student
will have learned. These elements are designed to help students of any
level learn more efficiently (Driscoll & Wood, 2007).
In other words, OBL is a backward design approach to curriculum
development (Spady, 1994). The implementation of OBL involves deter-
mining learning objectives, then creating learning contents and activities
that will help students to achieve the desired results, and finally evaluating
the learning results through different forms of assessment.
The design of a syllabus following this philosophy is distinguished by
the fact that course contents are described in terms of what students
should be able to do when they complete their study, which are referred
to as “intended learning outcomes—ILOs,” which according to Baume
(2005) must be: (1) attractive—students want to achieve them, (2) com-
prehensible—students know the meaning, (3) attainable—students can
learn to achieve them, and (4) coherent—they clearly fit into their
program.
 2 USING ENVIRONMENT AND NEEDS ANALYSES TO INNOVATE… 19

In a nutshell, outcome-based approach focuses on increasing students’

learning and ultimate performance abilities to highest possible levels when
students complete a course or a study program.

Macalister and Nation’s (2012) Curriculum

Design Framework
Curriculum design can be considered as both a product and a process
(Macalister & Nation, 2012). As a product, it is what a teacher can use as
a guideline for their daily classes, and as a process, it is a series of steps one
should take in order to create the final product. These curriculum design
steps are very similar to the writing process, which includes gathering
ideas, organizing them, converting them to text, reviewing, and editing.
According to Macalister and Nation (2012), the curriculum design model
is made up of three outer circles and a subdivided inner circle. The outer
circles consist of principles, situation analysis, and needs analysis, which are
directly related to factors that will have significant impacts on the pro-
cesses of curriculum development and course operation. These factors are
the learners’ existing level of language proficiency and what they lack, the
resources available, including course duration, the professional knowledge
and pedagogical skills of the teachers, and the principles of teaching and
learning. If these factors are not well-considered, the product of curricu-
lum design may appear to be unsuited to the context, and the learning and
teaching process may then be ineffective and inefficient. Findings from
situation analysis can be ranked in accordance with the effect that each
element in the investigated context has on the learning situation. On the
other hand, the outcome of a needs analysis is a practical list of essential
language items and skills that learners need to achieve upon completion of
the designed course based on their current level of language proficiency
and their future needs and wants. The development of a curriculum,
therefore, comprises both choosing the most remarkable factors to imple-
ment and monitoring their implementation through the whole design
process.

Situation Analysis
‘Situation analysis’ (Richards, 2001) or “environment analysis” (Tessmer,
1990) investigates factors that may influence decisions related to goals,
20 T. N. NGUYEN AND H. T. B. DINH

contents, delivery, and assessment of a course. These factors can be

accounted for by the learners, the teachers, and the teaching and learning
environment. There are many factors that could have strong effects on
curriculum design, so the curriculum designer should be able to classify
and give priority to factors that play key roles (Macalister & Nation, 2012).
To identify the importance of a factor, two questions should be asked: (1)
whether the course will still be useful if the factor is not taken into account
and (2) how large and pervasive the effect of the factor is on the course.
The following table provides a checklist to help sort out the few that
curriculum developers should pay attention to during the curriculum
design process. The following checklist describes factors and their possible
effects (Table 2.1).

Needs Analysis
Needs analysis is directly related to the goals and content of a course. It
analyzes the current level of language proficiency among learners and the
gap between the existing level and the expected goals. The needs analysis
ensures that the course contains relevant and useful content for students.
According to Hutchinson and Waters (1987), learning needs can be cat-
egorized as target needs (the context beyond the classroom where lan-
guage will be used and the learners need to perform effectively) and
learning needs (what learners need to learn effectively). The analysis of
target needs investigates the following:

1. Necessities: Target situations in which language is used, its stylistic

and pragmatic features. For example, do the learners have to para-
phrase what they understand when writing answers to exam ques-
tions, or do they just need to recite everything accurately?
2. Lacks: What do the learners lack and need to learn? For example, are
there aspects of writing that students have not mastered?
3. Wants: What do the learners wish to learn, and what are their
expectations?

In short, lacks are about present knowledge, needs are about required
knowledge, and wants are about subjective needs (Macalister & Nation,
2012). A good needs analysis thus covers a range of needs utilizing a range
of data collection tools. More importantly, needs should be analyzed from
various perspectives such as the gap between existing level of language
 2 USING ENVIRONMENT AND NEEDS ANALYSES TO INNOVATE… 21

Table 2.1 Checklist for situation (environment) analysis

Factors Description Possible effect

Learners Age Are the learners interested in Take account of learners’

all kinds of topics? Can the interests. Use appropriate
learners do all kinds of activities
learning activities?
Background Do they share a (first) Use teacher-centered
language? Can their first activities. Use some
language be used to help translation. Use first
learning? language prereading activities
Learning Will they use English for a Set general purpose goals.
motivation wide range of purposes? Do Include expected
they expect to learn certain material. Allow learners to
things from the course? Do negotiate the nature of the
they have expectations about course
what the course will be like? Use highly motivating
Are they interested in activities
learning English? Recycle activities. Use a spiral
Can they attend class curriculum
regularly?
Teachers Background Can they provide good Provide taped
models? Can they produce materials. Provide a complete
their own spoken or written set of course material. Use
material? Can they correct activities that do not require
spoken or written work? feedback
Experience Can they prepare some of Provide ready-made
their own material? Can they activities. Use group work
handle group work, activities
individualized learning?
Time Can the course include Provide homework
homework? Can the course activities. Provide answer
include work which has to keys
be marked?

(continued)
22 T. N. NGUYEN AND H. T. B. DINH

Table 2.1 (continued)

Factors Description Possible effect

Learning & Facilities Can the arrangement of the Use group work activities.
teaching desks be changed for Use material that does not
environment groupwork? Is the require the students to have
blackboard big enoughand a course book
easily seen?
Course Can the learners reach the Set staged goals. Provide
duration goals in the available time? Is plenty of material. Set limited
the course intensive? Can the goals
learners give all their time to
the course?

Resources Can material be Provide individualized

photocopied? Can each material.
learner have a copy of the Use teacher-focused
course book? Is there plenty material. Match the content
of supplementary material to available supplementary
material

Source: Macalister and Nation (2012)

proficiency and the expected level, context where language will be used
after the course, or interest of learners. A thorough needs analysis should
be able to collect information related to learners’ learning experience,
their existing level of language proficiency, future tasks and materials that
learners may come into contact with, type of texts they should read or
produce, communication discourse where they will perform. Needs analy-
sis can be conducted before the initial stages of a course, and during the
running of the course and at the end of a course. The before-course analy-
sis can be used for designing a curriculum, the during-course analysis
serves the purposes of making essential changes and the post-course analy-
sis is used for reflection and innovation.

The Curriculum Development Project

Context
The university where this research study was conducted is a public institu-
tion established in the 1950s in Hanoi, Vietnam. The university offers 40
bachelor’s programs, including 16 EMI courses. Four of the EMI courses
 2 USING ENVIRONMENT AND NEEDS ANALYSES TO INNOVATE… 23

are joint degrees with international partner universities, and they are all
related to the business field (University website). While the degrees are
awarded by the partner universities from Australia, the United Kingdom,
and Austria, the courses are instructed by Vietnamese lecturers who have
to pass a strict process of selection, and the delivery is controlled by a sys-
tem of quality assurance at partner universities. These programs recruit a
total of around 200 students per academic year, most of whom go through
an Intensive English Course (IEC) to reach IELTS 5.5 before commenc-
ing their official study in EMI programs.
The IEC is 18 weeks long with 30 contact hours per week. This course
aims to provide students with essential language development to further
their study in the chosen EMI program. Initially, the IEC focused solely
on general English study skills in order for students to achieve IELTS 5.5.
However, in their implementation of the course, the course designers,
who were also the lecturers in the IEC came to realize that such a focus
was too narrow because it did not provide students with sufficient aca-
demic skills and language items for their degree programs. Therefore, it
was decided that the learning outcome-based approach was employed to
revise the syllabus to better prepare the students so they would not only
pass the language entry requirements but also have the academic skills
needed for the EMI programs for their bachelor’s degrees in business-­
related fields. The first priority in this process was to undertake a detailed
analysis of the academic environment of the EMI program (environment
analysis), the academic requirements of the program, and the students’
current level of language proficiency and academic skills (needs analysis).

Curriculum Design Process

 nvironment and Needs Analysis

E
The following tasks were performed to conduct the essential analyses:

Task 1 A focus group interview with 12 language instructors of IEC

programs who had been instructed at the program for at least
three years. This meeting focused on identifying strengths and
weaknesses of the existing curriculum, issues with students’
learning, suggestions for improvement from the instructors.
This meeting lasted for three hours.
24 T. N. NGUYEN AND H. T. B. DINH

Task 2 A focus group with eight lecturers who had been lecturing at
different EMI programs at the university in the research context.
This meeting aimed to identify types of assignments and their
requirements, popular classroom activities and lecturers’ expec-
tation of students’ performance. This meeting was also held for
about three hours.
Task 3 Obtaining results of language proficiency tests in IELTS format
from a sample of 100 students who were nearing the end of their
IEC course.
Task 4 A focus group interview with 20 students who were in the first
and second year of the business-related degree courses to discuss
challenges they faced after completing the IEC course and start-
ing their major program. This interview lasted for approximately
three hours.
Task 5 Gathering course outlines from the first-year degree courses.

The data collection revealed the following major environment-, instruc-

tor-, and student-related factors:

Environment Factors
Learners’ English proficiency levels on admission to the IEC program
ranged from IELTS 3 to 5, and they had to achieve IELTS 5.5 before
starting their degree programs. At the beginning of the course, it was dif-
ficult for them to get used to the communicative language teaching
approach of university lecturers as they were more accustomed to the
grammar-vocabulary approach and test preparation at high school.
Besides, they were overwhelmed by the workload and assignments. It
took them about five to six weeks to get used to the new environment and
their oral literacy often developed faster than their written literacy.
Students, who were in the first and second year of their business-related
degree programs reported that the IEC should provide more contents
related to the future subjects of degree programs and more guidelines
related to academic writing skills so that they could perform better in the
first semester. It is also noted that students often perceived that course
work in their subject majors was more motivating and valuable than
English language courses.
 2 USING ENVIRONMENT AND NEEDS ANALYSES TO INNOVATE… 25

In terms of the learning organization and resources, class sizes varied

from 16 to 22 students for the IEC courses and 25 to 30 for EMI pro-
grams. Students typically had access to printed textbook or electronic
learning resources beyond the class time but they were not used to self-­
directed independent learning. In both programs, English was used as the
medium of instruction, however, some lecturers used Vietnamese in classes
to make the content more accessible. In the degree program, there were a
considerable number of required assignments and presentations in a
semester with strict academic requirements including the use of APA 7th
reference and citing, updated resources of reference, the use of Turnitin
plagiarism checker and length of at least 2000 words and beyond. It is also
reported that critical thinking and the ability to explain what is learnt with
concrete examples were of importance in the degree programs.
Memorization of exact words was not encouraged and may lead to a fail-
ure in the written examination.
When it comes to language instructors and lecturers, the results were as
follows. In the 2019–2020 academic year, approximately 20 English
instructors were employed at IEC. They had a minimum qualification of a
master’s degree in TESOL and an IELTS certificate at 8.0. All instructors
either graduated from Vietnamese universities or from universities abroad.
Instructors were assigned to teach a specific set of language skills in a
semester, and they were encouraged to use extra material while teaching.
In their opinion, they believed that the combination of both assigned
learning resources and teacher-made materials gave them sufficient space
to direct students’ learning process. They were all aware of the fact that
their teaching should not only focus on IELTS preparation but also on
implementing language into practice. However, they had difficulties
designing extra materials to enhance students’ language competence for
degree programs as they had little idea of learning activities used at those
programs.
Similarly, lecturers from degree programs had a minimum qualification
of a master’s in different areas of business and an IELTS certificate of at
least 7.0. All instructors either graduated from EMI programs or universi-
ties abroad. In their opinion, they were satisfied with students’ language
skills, especially presentation skills. However, they claimed that students
should be introduced to critical readings during the IEC as it would help
students to read more effectively later on. Additionally, they suggested
that students should have more opportunities to conduct research on
some basic business, accounting, management, and marketing terms so
26 T. N. NGUYEN AND H. T. B. DINH

that they would be less overwhelmed in the first semester of the degree
programs.

Needs Analysis
The first consideration in necessities is the demands of the target tasks that
students must complete in an EMI environment. An analysis of the course
outlines of the EMI programs showed that the main tasks included listen-
ing to lectures, participating in tutorials, writing assignments and tasks,
and doing written exams. In order to fulfill the course requirements, stu-
dents should possess a wide range of both academic vocabulary and aca-
demic terms, together with appropriate grammatical accuracy. Furthermore,
they should be able to write assignments in the form of descriptions, anal-
yses, and comparisons. The interview with eight EMI lecturers who were
involved in delivering course contents and marking such assignments pro-
vided insights into what they expected in a good assignment. In fact, they
were not concerned with the grammatical accuracy of the writing but
more concerned that the students show their understanding of academic
writing rules and demonstrate their knowledge of the subject.
A crucial part of needs analysis involves investigating students’ under-
standing of academic requirements and their existing academic skills, as
well as what they thought would be beneficial for their study. This was
done through interviews with 20 students in the first and second year of
degree courses. It was discovered that there was a significant academic gap
between what was taught in school and the academic expectations in the
EMI environment. While at Vietnamese school memorization was priori-
tized, in EMI programs critical thinking and the ability to apply what was
taught into practice were of great importance.

 evising the Syllabus Following a Learning Outcome-based Approach

R
Before the intended learning outcomes for the course were redesigned,
the IEC’s Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs) were identified based on
needs analysis. Previously, IEC objectives were described based on the
materials to be covered. The goals for learning were written in terms of
what the teacher would teach the students. Before redesigning the IEC
course using OBL, the previous course outline was reviewed and con-
verted to OBL format. This helped language instructors to have a better
understanding of their teaching outcomes. Below are some examples
(Table 2.2):
 2 USING ENVIRONMENT AND NEEDS ANALYSES TO INNOVATE… 27

Table 2.2 Examples of learning outcomes

Language objectives Course intended language learning outcomes

1. Develop competence in Demonstrate a high level of understanding of English

academic reading skills. academic literacy in written contexts and subject
knowledge.
2. Understand academic Demonstrate their understanding of academic texts by
texts related to various summarizing the key ideas and arguments, selecting related
topic examples to illustrate a specific point/idea.
3. Write full academic essay Apply academic writing rules and styles into writing essays
of various length of length from 500 to 3000 words, using proper reading
resources and referencing styles.
4. Understand some basic Demonstrate their understanding of terms related to
ESP terms business management by being able to explain and provide
related examples.

The Final Curriculum Product

After analyzing the environment, needs and redesigning the learning
objectives in accordance with the outcome-based approach, the next step
centered on working within and against them to achieve the objectives of
developing students’ language and academic skills. In order to organize
the necessary time for language proficiency and to explore topics of inter-
est related to the subject majors in the EMI programs on business studies,
the course designers followed two separate phases, with each phase aiming
at providing students with the necessary knowledge and skills to both pass
the language entry requirements into the EMI programs, and to be able
to do the required academic tasks in the EMI programs.

 hase 1: Developing and Enhancing Language and Study Skills through

P
the Use of IELTS-Oriented and Content-based Textbooks
In this phase, extensive development was needed in all four language skills
in order to access important concepts covered in the future study. For this
reason, 80% of the teaching time is used for intensive language training
and 20% for academic skills. The same topics appeared in each unit of the
respective listening, speaking, reading, and writing materials, which were
developed and compiled based on a number of existing textbooks in the
market. The instructors were also required to design additional tasks to
target students’ weaknesses.
28 T. N. NGUYEN AND H. T. B. DINH

To maximize opportunities to recycle language form, meaning, and use

on familiar topics, additional receptive and productive tasks are added. For
example, 200-word dictation passages were designed based on previously
encountered texts. Some texts were designed for extensive reading or flu-
ency development with a controlled range of vocabulary, meaning that 50
to 60% of the words were derived from course material or the first and
second thousand most common English words. By creating repeated
opportunities to consolidate and extend language use in multiple con-
texts, low-proficiency learners would have time to comprehend texts, rec-
ognize language forms, and practice using them in meaningful contexts.
Guided independent language learning was the final element that instruc-
tors were encouraged to include in their teaching process. Primarily, this
entailed assigning homework as preparation for the upcoming class.
However, instead of focusing on practicing language items, the given
homework aimed to develop students’ self-learning and research skills.
Students were asked to either select an article or audio from given resources
and summarize their content in the form of a mini presentation or to con-
duct a mini research on current news or events.

 hase 2: Developing Content-Specific Language and Improving

P
Language Proficiency in Relation to Specific Business Disciplines through
Project Work and Integrated Skills Tasks
While Phase 1 focused on improving academic language development,
Phase 2 gave students the chance to work on integrated skills, issue-based
projects to address motivational issues related to the relevance of future
course contents or the chance to review and direct their own learning. The
course developers added English for Specific Purposes and English for
Academic Purposes lessons in the new curriculum with a frequency of six
hours per week. With this introduction, students had opportunities to
explore a variety of topics related to their future study in business fields.
They were also introduced to basic research skills and rules of academic
writing, as well as steps to approach different kinds of academic assign-
ments. Such an approach was expected to help students gain greater con-
fidence in using language productively. For their part, the instructors were
required to support productive language use and increase awareness of
appropriate academic discourse and academic conventions through a read-­
to-­write model.
Phase 2 set a platform to develop students’ independent research skills
and experience in directing their own learning, which help them to develop
 2 USING ENVIRONMENT AND NEEDS ANALYSES TO INNOVATE… 29

their personal project work. Such an approach was based on the sugges-
tion of lecturers from degree programs. Additionally, language instructors
could contribute to students’ learning development thanks to their roles
as project coaches. This gave students opportunities to work under super-
vision and to enhance not only their academic skills but also social skills.

Course Piloting
In the academic year 2020–2021, the new IEC curriculum was piloted.
The course structure and goals were thoroughly presented to both lan-
guage instructors and students at the start of the semester, emphasizing
the intended outcomes. During the implementation process, mid-course
and end-of-course feedback from instructors and students was collected.
Additionally, regular feedback from all parties shed light on timely changes,
and it all benefited the learning and teaching processes. Nearly 200 stu-
dents and 20 English language instructors took part in the pilot.
When asked to fill out a survey form anonymously, almost all of the
students (93%) stated that the outcomes were clear to them and that moti-
vated them to study. Besides, they quite enjoyed the learning activities of
courses and felt confident when doing simulated tasks and assignments,
which indicated that the changes in the approach and the learning content
brought positive feedback. Additionally, all students agreed that the out-
comes of the course helped them develop better academic skills for their
future degree programs, and their confidence was boosted as they had a
clearer understanding of what studying in an EMI environment would be
like. It was also reported by the instructors that students appeared to be
more engaged in classroom activities, and there was a positive teacher-­
student relationship.
On the other hand, a number of challenges were also identified. As for
students, a number of them felt overburdened with the number of tasks
and assignments they had to complete. When compared to the language-­
only learning environment, learners of the new curriculum had to take
more risks and try harder to master challenging academic work than
before. As for the language instructors, the changes in the curriculum
design approach meant changes in their teaching methods and material
development. It was reported that designing lesson plans and activities
appeared to be challenging since there should be a strong connection
between what teachers wanted to teach and the intended learning out-
comes. It was also recorded that it took time and effort to be well
30 T. N. NGUYEN AND H. T. B. DINH

prepared, and language instructors had to pay considerable attention to

structuring learning experiences to help learners learn effectively and
achieve the intended outcomes. Sometimes, the instructors found it diffi-
cult due to the limited resources and time. Finally, it was of great respon-
sibility and pressure for the course designers in determining what things
were “essential for all students to be able to do,” which was often a con-
tentious issue, and it was not always an easy task to clarify the intended
learning outcomes to language instructors so that they could use the out-
comes to guide their lesson planning and instructional practices.

Reflection and Conclusion

The experience of analyzing the environment and needs while designing a
program to meet the needs of various stakeholders has revealed the
dynamic nature of the curriculum design process. It also reveals that when
learning needs have been identified, outcome-based learning will help
learners focus on their intended learning outcomes so that they can
enhance both their knowledge and skills upon completion of a course.
Such an approach also makes learning more student-centered and rede-
fines the instructor’s role. In an OBL context, instructors need to think
from the learners’ perspectives and pay attention to how they can help
learners achieve the intended learning outcomes and be able to transfer
what they have achieved into a more challenging environment. It is also
noted that to implement OBL successfully in an intensive English course
for EMI degree programs, it is essential to first come up with a set of
generic outcomes at the degree program level and then develop a set of
IEC learning outcomes that must be based on the generic outcomes in a
specific manner. It is, therefore, critical to design realistic, comprehensible,
achievable, and transferable intended learning outcomes based on the spe-
cific requirements of a degree program, and to ensure that teaching and
learning activities are directly related to the future degree program out-
comes. Finally, feedback from students and instructors is important for
further adjustment and improvement of the entire practice of curricu-
lum design.
In the final note, this chapter, in spite of its small scale, has contributed
to research in curriculum design, especially in EMI in transnational pro-
grams, a current trend in education internationalization in Vietnam.
 2 USING ENVIRONMENT AND NEEDS ANALYSES TO INNOVATE… 31

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 CHAPTER 3

Out of the Ordinary: Implementation

of a New Japanese Language Program
in Higher Education in Vietnam

Eriko Yamato

Introduction
RMIT University Vietnam is one of the foreign university campuses in Ho
Chi Minh City. It has played an important role in leading tertiary educa-
tion in the region as an international institution since 2000. In line with
higher education programs offered at the main campus in Melbourne,
Australia, all programs of the Vietnam campus are designed to supply an
industry-led and student-centered learning experience. Apart from the
common educational goals that are shared with the other campuses, the
Vietnam campus has implemented learning and teaching strategies where
single-source textbooks and traditional end-of-semester examinations
have been replaced by authentic assessment tasks and online resources

E. Yamato (*)
School of Communication and Design, RMIT University Vietnam,
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
e-mail: eriko.yamato@rmit.edu.vn

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 33

Switzerland AG 2024
L. Phung et al. (eds.), Innovation in Language Learning and
Teaching, New Language Learning and Teaching Environments,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46080-7_3
34 E. YAMATO

across all programs to realize the educational goals of preparing students

for life and work. To support this move, the campus has organized a num-
ber of learning and teaching workshops for both lecturers and students.
Innovative methods of self-directed and interactive learning with engag-
ing digital learning materials and authentic assessments have been encour-
aged. Industry engagement is also incorporated in every program,
including industry field trips and guest speaker sessions as well as industry-­
led projects and internships (RMIT University, 2022; Brown et al., 2022).
Coming from over 20 years of teaching experience in public tertiary
education in Southeast Asia, where the process of curriculum reform was
rather slow and learning and teaching innovations were limited, I was
excited to be a part of the journey to execute educational policies at RMIT
University Vietnam. Contrary to the expectations I had of the institutions
and students in socialist societies, I saw interactive English classrooms with
group work and active students engaging enthusiastically in class and sit-
ting on sofas with their laptops in on-campus spaces. These sights gave me
an incentive to learn more about the underpinning pedagogical philoso-
phies, and I was exhilarated by the new challenges. The Vietnam campus
was small enough to have individual induction sessions about the univer-
sity’s learning and teaching policies for new staff at the time I was on-­
boarded in 2017. Furthermore, when I started my work to prepare to
launch the new undergraduate program, the Bachelor of Languages in the
School of English, the School had an open atmosphere for innovation,
and I had opportunities to explore novel ideas through both workshops
and invitations to observe classes.
In addition to these unexpected new environments I encountered, the
initial inspiration for designing the Japanese courses for a Bachelor of
Languages program was met with skepticism about the fixed structural
syllabus approach that has been common in Japanese language education,
especially outside Japan. In Noda’s, 2012 book on research in Japanese
education, the widely held pro-textbook sentiment, which has a strong
influence on the structural syllabus in Japanese language education, is
questioned by some Japanese scholars. They also called for research on
authentic Japanese materials and real communication among native speak-
ers, as well as between native and non-native speakers of Japanese. In her
2009 book chapter on research and pedagogy in Japanese grammar,
Kobayashi, a leading scholar in Japanese language education in Japan,
pointed out the huge gap between real communication and communica-
tion in the Japanese language classroom. In everyday life, we never have
 3 OUT OF THE ORDINARY: IMPLEMENTATION OF A NEW JAPANESE… 35

conversations for the purpose of using specific grammatical forms and

rules. Instead, we communicate with others and use the language to
deliver specific intended content. While rethinking the syllabus of Japanese
courses, I ended up changing the assessments to fit the campus policies
first and then gradually, while delivering courses every semester, got ideas
for another course at one level higher. The word “authentic” in authentic
assessment prompted me to move away from grammar-centric learning
content. If knowing the sentence structures were the core learning out-
come of the courses, testing knowledge of grammar in a written examina-
tion would be appropriate, but RMIT’s learning outcomes for courses did
not stop at the lower-order learning level. So asking what was “authentic”
in authentic assessment for language learning is the first step for me in
beginning to develop the Japanese courses within the Bachelor of
Languages program.
This chapter begins with an introduction and overview of the Japanese
major along with its underpinning core concepts aimed at producing
work-ready graduates equipped with the necessary trilingual language and
soft skills. Secondly, it explains the efforts to develop a quality higher edu-
cation program utilizing hybrid-mode based on the concept of “flipped
classroom” and “authentic assessment” at every level in the language
learning process. Finally, the pros and cons of these approaches are dis-
cussed featuring three different views: students, stakeholders, and course
instructors.

Bachelor of Languages: Japanese Major

The Bachelor of Languages degree program consists of two majors: the
Translating and Interpreting major, which focuses on the Vietnamese–
English language pair, and the Japanese major. The core framework of this
program was designed by the School of English Language, RMIT Vietnam,
in cooperation with executives and language experts at the Melbourne
campus. The Japanese major program is based on the model of successful
pre-university-level English language programs with participatory active
language learning as its fundamental pedagogical approach. While consoli-
dating students’ language skills in both English and their native language
and/or the third language, the program also aims to guide students in
developing soft skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, and adapt-
ability. In 2019, the Bachelor of Languages program was shifted to be
managed by the School of Communication and Design and has continued
36 E. YAMATO

to evolve as a higher education program that reflects the university’s learn-

ing and teaching strategies, including authentic assessment, digitalized
learning, and industry and community engagement.
Each course of the Japanese major is designed to contribute to cultivat-
ing various aspects of the learning outcomes of the Bachelor of Languages
program. The program’s learning outcomes aim to develop the attributes
expected of RMIT undergraduate program graduates as work-ready,
global in outlook and competent, culturally and socially aware, active and
lifelong learners, and innovative. The six levels of Japanese language pro-
ficiency courses cover fundamental to intermediate knowledge of the
Japanese language, provide formative, hands-on practice in productive
skills, and enhance sociocultural awareness as well as soft skills throughout
the integrated activities, which are performed by students outside of face-­
to-­face class hours. Each course includes a recommended total of 120
learning hours with 36 hours of face-to-face classes and self-directed learn-
ing using online materials provided in the university’s Learning
Management System (LMS).
To enable students to engage in authentic communication at the begin-
ner level, the main topic of each course is related to life in Vietnam. The
scope of topics is then gradually expanded to wider surrounding phenom-
ena, events, and issues in higher-level courses. Weekly face-to-face classes
are divided into two sessions focusing on helping students practice speak-
ing and writing, respectively. By referring to traditional Japanese language
textbooks that are structured based on simple to sophisticated grammati-
cal aspects in progression, Japanese 1 introduces simple sentence patterns
and Japanese 2, 3 and 4 bring in some compound sentences and clauses
involving aspects and modalities. From Japanese 3, weekly course content
is framed by topics that allow students to select grammatical points that
are necessary to express their content. Even though Japanese 1 to 3 supply
vocabulary lists in the LMS, students are encouraged to use the open-­
source online dictionary (Ahlström et al., n.d.) developed to search for the
words needed to deliver their intended meanings in their own contexts.
The Vietnam campus’ “no single textbook” policy directs us to make
use of the LMS for each course. Each course coordinator or lecturer is
responsible for creating and updating the LMS content, which consists of
modules and assessment guidelines. As for language courses, the “no sin-
gle textbook” policy was apparently too ambitious, because publishing
one series of textbooks takes a lot of effort and time, and it is almost
impossible to produce the same quality of content in a short time.
 3 OUT OF THE ORDINARY: IMPLEMENTATION OF A NEW JAPANESE… 37

Nevertheless, while teaching one semester with one textbook, I realized

that there were open-source supplemental materials available for well-­
known textbooks as well as some websites and videos that individual
Japanese language educators and enthusiasts had created and shared
online. I started to select and compile some of those, and I restructured
the syllabus. During this process for the first two levels, I also realized that
we should not rely solely on a printed textbook, which easily becomes
outdated, in order to maintain “authenticity” in the courses in terms of
vocabulary use.
The top-down policies that were introduced at the beginning not only
freed us from limiting vocabulary but also allowed us to roll out a new
initiative on the Kanji writing system, which is one of the most difficult
aspects of Japanese language learning. The Kanji writing system hinders
the learning of reading and writing in the Japanese language as it includes
over 2,000 symbolic characters. To initially reduce this complexity, the
approach used for Japanese school children is commonly applied in
Japanese language education. Introducing some simple Kanji characters
according to the number of strokes for beginner learners leads to odd
spellings of some nouns that are supposed to consist of two Kanji charac-
ters. To avoid going through this children’s writing stage with adult learn-
ers, we introduce typing skills from the very beginning of the first course.
Students are also exposed to authentic writing materials in the second-­
level curriculum and learn to convert words using the prediction candi-
dates that pop up while typing texts with a computer in Japanese input
mode. This reflects the current situation where handwriting skills are not
much needed in authentic written communications in both private and
work settings.
Every Japanese course also includes a range of integrated activities that
immerse students in authentic communication. These activities require
students to apply speaking, writing, listening, and reading language skills,
regardless of their level of language proficiency. The authenticity of each
activity is defined by using “authentic language,” which means the lan-
guage is not altered according to course content such as introduced
vocabulary and sentence patterns. From Japanese 1 to 3, students make
use of English as a learning medium to complete Japanese tasks. From
Japanese 4, they engage with native speakers of Japanese through different
activities such as teaching Vietnamese to Japanese residents, conducting
language and cultural games for Japanese children, and interviewing
industry partners. These activities were initiated and developed according
38 E. YAMATO

to the university’s learning and teaching strategies and policies such as

authentic assessment and industry and community engagement.

Institution-driven Innovation
This section highlights the efforts to realize hybrid-mode “flipped class-
rooms” without the use of printed textbooks and the implementation of
“authentic assessment” at every level in the language learning process
while maintaining the integrity of the university’s higher education
program.

Flipped Classroom
Since the use of the LMS was fundamental to the new courses from the
designing stage of the Japanese major courses, approximately three years
were spent developing the first flipped classroom content for ten courses.
According to the broad definition of a flipped classroom, “events that have
typically and traditionally happened inside the classroom” take place “out-
side the classroom” (McNally et al., 2017, p. 282). In language learning,
the knowledge of vocabulary and grammar can be considered lower order
but essential learning content so that students should be self-prepared
before engaging in higher-order learning activities that need an instruc-
tor’s guidance as Jong (2019, p. 393) explained in relation to Bloom’s
Taxonomy. When a course is designed based on a single textbook, intro-
ducing knowledge of a language, such as vocabulary and grammar, and
assigning exercises to consolidate students’ understanding of sentence pat-
terns are essential classroom activities, especially for the beginner levels.
Now, this knowledge-based content is all included in the LMS and acces-
sible to students outside the classroom setting.
The year we started developing Japanese course content in the LMS,
the English program was also developing its online content and incorpo-
rating technological learning tools in their face-to-face teaching. There
were a few experts in language learning and technology at the university,
and the campus also had support staff who were familiar with educational
technology and assessment processes in general as well as staff whose
expertise was purely in the use of specific functions of the LMS. In addi-
tion to the skilled workforce assistance provided by the university, we used
students’ feedback after each delivery to determine the suitability of the
course in terms of both amount and content. Official course experience
 3 OUT OF THE ORDINARY: IMPLEMENTATION OF A NEW JAPANESE… 39

surveys conducted by the university and interviews with program repre-

sentatives were the main source of feedback from inaugural students. The
direction of course development was discussed and decided at the pro-
gram level in reference to the feedback. Since students were generally inac-
tive in giving individual qualitative feedback in the official survey despite
its anonymity, the instructor also conducted self-administrative surveys
after the course assessment ended. These consisted of more course-specific
questions in order to understand students’ experiences in language learn-
ing in the pre-intermediate to advanced courses. Although updating pre-­
class preparation content and formats has been a continuous challenge
because the instructors had limited technical knowledge and spare time to
enhance the online environment, assistance with this issue has been pro-
vided at the campus level by online learning support experts and through
workshops and individual consultations for lecturers as needed.
In the past five years, however, what we have experienced is that having
all enrolled students engage in self-directed, non-assessed pre-class learn-
ing activities is a never-ending challenge in implementing the flipped class-
room format. Since the flipped classroom is a university-driven policy,
every course is supposed to have basic content utilizing standard format,
including pre-class pages in the module section, regardless of delivery for-
mat. The Vietnam campus also has a quality assurance process at the
beginning of every semester to ensure each course fulfils standard require-
ments in line with the learning and teaching policies of the campus. All
new students have opportunities to explore successful learning strategies
specific to this university and to attend hands-on sessions to use the LMS
at the beginning of their study journey. That means that every senior stu-
dent is anticipated to be familiar with the LMS and its learning style. The
lecturers are optimistic about gaining the “students’ endorsement” of the
delivery format and learning style before their course enrollment. However,
these campus-level efforts have not successfully increased every student’s
engagement in their learning, and how to create stimulating and encour-
aging non-assessed pre-class tasks is an area for improvement during the
process of updating the LMS content across the programs.
In the macro view of the students’ background, Vietnamese students
are accustomed to the teacher-led and knowledge-based learning style,
and that cannot be changed overnight. This is, in fact, similar to the results
of McNally et al.’s (2017) study on the flipped classroom approach, where
only the students who endorsed the concept had positive attitudes toward
all course activities regardless of whether they were conducted online or
40 E. YAMATO

face-to-face. For recent Japanese courses, therefore, to guide students in

managing their pre-class learning, 30 minutes to 1 hour have been allo-
cated to interactive brainstorming sessions about the course format, with
the instructors acting as facilitators and navigators for their learning. Yet,
it has been more difficult to achieve full acceptance of this learning format
by beginner-level students than those at higher levels because of their atti-
tudes and expectations regarding the course. For instance, in 2019, stu-
dents of Japanese 1 occasionally left unfavorable comments in the section
of the official course experience survey regarding the expectation of self-­
study before coming to the class. In 2022, after more emphasis was put on
the flipped classroom format, one wrote that they wanted improvements
to “the teaching style. We are left to learn the content on our own and go
to class to practice.” This implies the student’s knowledge of the learning
style but lack of understanding of the reason for its implementation. More
obviously, Japanese instructors have only seen a few students who engage
in the pre-class tasks, despite receiving mostly positive comments about
the modules.
Despite resistance from some students regarding the flipped classroom
approach, obvious differences in the students’ outcomes were witnessed
over the past five years between students who engaged well in pre-class
preparation and those who started looking at pre-class materials when
physically coming into the classes. These challenging aspects of the flipped
classroom approach are, in fact, similar to those Nunez and Monsivais
(2020) pointed out in relation to nursing education. They observed that
since pre-class engagement is a student-centered process, an instructor
cannot do much without changing the mindset of the students. However,
one of the challenging aspects highlighted in the research, the heavy
course preparation workload of setting up all courses in the flipped class-
room format, has at least been overcome by now. With a sufficient volume
of online course content ready, making further changes from time to time
is a manageable task in between semesters. Regular discussions at the
course level and cyclical reflections at the program level are a platform to
initiate any change in the course content. Recently we started document-
ing changes to be able to track what we have done and to analyze students’
performance reflectively.
Another element related to the flipped classroom approach in the
Japanese major program is that, from Japanese 3 onwards, formative
weekly assessments are designed to be directly tied to pre-class and in-class
activities. This means that content could not be merely “flipped” from its
 3 OUT OF THE ORDINARY: IMPLEMENTATION OF A NEW JAPANESE… 41

in-class use to pre-class platforms. Applying this approach requires that

major course content and delivery format revisions be made to established,
pre-existing course content as well as related methods of assessment. The
pre-class content, which was selected lower-order knowledge, was cen-
tered around broad topics, yet too open-ended for students to be able to
select what they want to deliver. The in-class content was, therefore,
adjusted according to their pre-class tasks as formative assessments to help
students learn what they are lacking and improve their work. The formula-
tion of ideas to design the course creating pre-class tasks, in-class activities,
and post-class assessments was stimulated by following the workshops
organized by the university’s learning and teaching department. There
were also sharing and discussion sessions about the other lecturers’ prac-
tices for higher-level courses across the schools. Another recent positive
phenomenon is that the strict COVID-19 lockdown situation in Vietnam
made most students familiar with online learning and its environment.
The instructors also adapted to the latest online tools, such as online meet-
ing/sharing applications and online whiteboards to enhance both pre-­
class and face-to-face learning methods with support from the university
through online information sessions and hands-on workshops across the
campuses. After parting from the School of English, the key conceptual
input came from the content courses, and the language courses provide
ideas to consider such aspects as what resources and what activities to be
applied.

Authentic Assessment
Authentic assessment is a core concept included in the design of each
Japanese course in the program. We were under pressure to make our
program consistent with the other programs offered on the same campus
and fit the fundamental educational goal of achieving the learning out-
comes of each course as well as the program learning outcomes, including
skills such as communication, intercultural competence, life-long learning,
teamwork, and critical thinking. Gulikers et al. (2004) defined authentic
assessment as “an assessment requiring students to use the same compe-
tence, or combinations of knowledge, skills, and attitudes, that they need
to apply in the criterion situation in professional life” (p. 69). The concept
of “professional life” in the context of the Japanese program encompasses
any type of work utilizing the Japanese language, and everyday life themes
cannot be excluded from the context of professional life since we need the
42 E. YAMATO

ability to deliver everyday topics in professional contexts as well. The

beginner-level course, Japanese 1, thus begins with “Self and Students,”
which relates to the immediate surroundings and everyday lives of the
students. Subsequently, the topics of each course are gradually extended
to the wider surroundings of both Vietnam and Japan.
As authentic assessment was a top-down initiative, when we designed
the online passage-writing tasks as the summative assessment for Japanese
1 in the first semester, we received an inquiry from the campus’ learning
and teaching department and were required to explain the reason for hav-
ing a kind of “test” at the end of the semester for the newly launched
course. By getting support from the English language program, we insisted
on the necessity of testing productive skills on-site at the end of the course,
and our assessment tasks have some critical elements to make the assess-
ment authentic for the specific proficiency level. According to Sokhanvar
et al.’s (2021) systematic literature review of authentic assessment in
higher education, the main formats and tools of the assessment tasks are
presentations, mini projects, case studies, reflective journals, and inter-
views, while paper examinations are excluded. Our format of the summa-
tive assessment did not fit the expectations of the general framework of
authentic assessment that the department had at that time.
Japanese 1 to 6, nonetheless, have summative assessment tasks at the
end of the course to indicate whether students achieved the learning out-
comes of each course which reflect certain levels of language proficiency.
Because the focus of each course is to support students in developing
productive skills in the Japanese language that are difficult to achieve with-
out the presence of others. Thus, each assessment task assesses their pro-
ductive skills while the use of receptive skills is incorporated to complete
the task. When course assessments are designed as “authentic” for stu-
dents, their learning experiences differ from those of courses specifically
designed for knowledge-based traditional examinations. Even though stu-
dents are supposed to acquire the target language and enhance their com-
munication skills in the language, without developing essential soft skills
such as collaboration skills, critical thinking and problem-solving skills,
self-awareness, and self-confidence, they would not be ready for profes-
sional life when completing the undergraduate program. A decade ago,
Ashford-Rowe et al. (2014) determined the critical elements of authentic-
ity in assessment tasks, and found eight critical elements: challenge, per-
formance, or product (outcome), transfer of knowledge, metacognition,
accuracy, fidelity, discussion, and collaboration.
 3 OUT OF THE ORDINARY: IMPLEMENTATION OF A NEW JAPANESE… 43

To apply the authentic assessment principle, we have designed each

assessment task by considering aspects that are close to what Villarroel
et al. (2020) highlighted in their discussion on redesigning traditional
examinations. These are “injecting realism into tests” (p. 42) and “assess-
ing complex thinking” (p. 43). For instance, Japanese 1 and 2 cover basic
vocabulary and simple sentence patterns, although to complete each
assessment task, students need to make use of transfer skills such as judg-
ing and deciding as well as the lower-level analytical skills of comparing
and relating in order to complete whole tasks. In terms of the format of
the tasks, images or videos are used to contextualize each task in a realistic
situation, and the task questions are open ended so as to elicit innovative
original ideas from the students’ perspectives.
At the campus level, in-class and summative assessment tasks utilizing
online tools in the LMS are not eliminated even after the final examination
weeks in the academic calendar and the campus did not have a final exami-
nation department to collect question papers and conduct the examina-
tion following the university guideline. Overall, the campus was gifted
with strong leadership to put authentic assessments in place, and their
approach was successful because each coordinator and lecturer had a
chance to voice and share their issues in the transition process. As for the
Bachelor of Languages program, we were on board in this process from
the beginning of the program and we continue to adjust the assessment
format of each course by considering both the nature of the subject and
what is authentic for the context of the course.

Discussion
By expanding what was presented in the earlier sections, this section dis-
cusses the pros and cons of the approaches based on the feedback of stu-
dents about their beliefs about language learning, the expectations and
feedback of industry participants, and the heuristic reflections of course
instructors in the program.

Recognition and Resistance by Students

The activity-based, face-to-face classes and the number of authentic ele-
ments in language use generally allowed students to engage well in their
courses, and thus the general feedback on the course experience survey
was positive among the Japanese major students over the past five years.
44 E. YAMATO

The response rate of the survey has been statistically insufficient for most
semesters. Still, we have occasionally received intuitive comments and
taken action if it is reasonable and affordable to do so. For instance, avail-
able online sources were apparently adequate to assist students’ analytical
tasks on colloquial Japanese, on which Japanese 5 deliberately focuses.
However, one student pointed out the lack of references in the University
Library to support their assessment tasks. This feedback made us realize
that there were students who wanted to learn Japanese but did not have
an interest in Japanese popular cultural products such as films and anima-
tion, so they needed more assistance in exposure to colloquial Japanese.
Some first-cohort students, who understood the fact that the Bachelor of
Languages was a developing program in the context of Vietnam, were
cooperative in expressing their thoughts after completing each course. As
for the whole program, we maintained an attitude of learning from the
students and judging feedback fairly, and we reacted accordingly despite
occasionally receiving unconstructive feedback. Most students’ feedback
was not explicitly directed towards the educational policies and pedagogy
fundamental to the courses. The students often referred to the flipped
classroom concept as “self-study,” and authentic assessment as “no paper
final examination.” As far as I know, there were no calls for a final exami-
nation in place of authentic assessment, even though some students were
struggling to meet the assessment due dates that fell around the end of the
semester.
At the same time, students’ resistance was observable through their
reactions. Some students who registered for Japanese 1 as an elective quit
the course early in the semester because of overwhelming online content
and constant assessment tasks that needed to be handed in every week.
The elective students enrolled in Japanese 3 and above gave both positive
and negative responses about the self-study component. The students
who could cope with formative assessments had good academic perfor-
mance overall and they appreciated our efforts to give constant feedback
and opportunities to improve their productive skills despite the challeng-
ing timeline. Those who expressed their dissatisfaction were confused by
the flipped classroom approach and by the instructors’ roles, which did
not involve teaching the grammar points in face-to-face classes as they had
experienced in the other language classes outside the university. There
were also students who valued real experiences in Japanese and the courses,
in fact, improved their productive skills.
 3 OUT OF THE ORDINARY: IMPLEMENTATION OF A NEW JAPANESE… 45

One of the alumni of this program confessed after completing eight

courses of Japanese that she relied on software that shows Kanji written in
syllabic letters called Furigana. The software assisted her to read online
materials and make presentations in Japanese throughout the intermediate
to advanced courses. She also added that she could comprehend spoken
Japanese based on each context and could convey her ideas even though
she lacked grammatical accuracy. This student was one who accepted and
made efforts to adapt to our approaches in language learning. When she
had the opportunity to write about her journey of learning Japanese at
RMIT in an online Japanese magazine, she praised the student-centered
learning even though it was more challenging than she had expected. Her
suggestion for the program was to include testing or a scale to monitor
Kanji learning for every course at that time. She was concerned that she
would not feel confident if she could not see quantifiable achievement in
her language learning from an examination with scores. At any rate, she
took the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) and passed the inter-
mediate level without much test preparation.
The students who progress to higher-level Japanese courses might
struggle and feel overwhelmed because all the materials used for Japanese
6 and above are authentic materials on specific topics or from academic
fields that Japanese natives read and listen to, and every course includes
authentic communication with classmates and instructors as well as other
native speakers for specific purposes which are not usually associated with
general everyday discourse. Nevertheless, some Vietnamese students
became interested in Kanji because the formation of the words is similar to
the Vietnamese language, since both languages were influenced by the
Chinese language, and they started making efforts to learn the characters
by heart even though they were not imposed as course assessments.

Benchmark of Japanese Proficiency and Stakeholders

At the campus level, one department in charge of building and expanding
industry relations supports lecturers by contacting both global and
Vietnamese companies. With the assistance of this department, the
Japanese program has established relations with Japanese companies in
Vietnam. Some visit the campus and hold meetings, and some have
become partners to engage with our students in the course activities. The
Bachelor of Languages program also formed an industry advisory com-
mittee that consists of Japanese expatriates in Vietnam. The most useful
46 E. YAMATO

input we had for developing our program came from personal meetings
and informal conversations during functions organized by the Japanese
Chamber of Commerce in Ho Chi Minh City, especially about the JLPT.
The JLPT is an instrument used as part of an internationally recognized
Japanese language certification system. When applying for posts in
Japanese companies and roles requiring Japanese language skills, learners
of the Japanese language are classified according to their JLPT results. In
our program, we encourage students to prepare for and take the JLPT N3,
which is the middle of the five levels of the JLPT, before their internship
even though our program is not designed according to the JLPT levels.
One of the reasons for this is the feedback from industry stakeholders,
especially from recruitment agencies that support both companies and
Vietnamese Japanese speakers to find better employment opportunities.
On the other hand, we also heard from many sources that job applicants
who passed the N3 and higher did not really have sufficient productive
skills in Japanese. Most recruitment agencies said that the JLPT result is a
benchmark used to reduce the number of candidates for bigger companies
to interview, which is the main process for selecting final candidates with
adequate levels of language proficiency. They did not blindly rely on the
JLPT results to hire any personnel.
When our students interacted with Japanese native speakers as part of
the course assessments, industry people and Japanese residents compli-
mented their achievements in productive skills. In fact, there were also
alumni who gained internship positions that required N2, which is the
pre-advanced level, without having any JLPT official result. I do not deny
the importance of having a benchmark and certificate to prove one’s lan-
guage skills; however, we accepted some students who passed the N3 or
N2 before enrolling in our program/courses and found that they could
not write comprehensive essays/reports with a logical flow and could not
demonstrate mature ideas in oral presentations because of a lack of prac-
tice in formulating ideas and conveying them in the target language even
though they have the knowledge of grammar and vocabulary to be bench-
marked at an intermediate or advanced level.
Test results and certificates show clear achievement in learning the tar-
get language and provide self-satisfaction to learners from the proof that
their efforts have been beneficial. Clear indicators such as the number of
recognizable Kanji characters and vocabulary and understandable gram-
matical points ease our anxiety and uncertainty in the language learning
process. However, the reality is that native speakers have various levels of
 3 OUT OF THE ORDINARY: IMPLEMENTATION OF A NEW JAPANESE… 47

knowledge in terms of Kanji characters and vocabulary, and have familiar

topics that they can easily talk or write about but also encounter unfamiliar
language that needs to be checked in a dictionary. The authentic assess-
ment approach allowed us to be free from the ideas of having fixed and
ready-made frameworks and indicators in designing our Japanese program
at RMIT. We have observed some students realizing their improvement in
speaking and writing skills throughout the courses and extending what-
ever knowledge they have outside of the course. Some of them also real-
ized that second and third language acquisition is a never-ending lifelong
process. Even though some students may be confused and a few of them
lose confidence in their learning journey, without developing abilities to
use the target language in authentic situations, they will not be able to
communicate their messages and engage in real communication especially
in professional contexts.

Concluding Remarks
Compared to the pre-university English program at RMIT Vietnam,
which has 200 hours of face-to-face class hours for its seven levels, the suc-
cess of the Bachelor of Languages, Japanese Major program has been
uncertain since the planning stage as it depends on whether students are
prepared for life and work with adequate Japanese language proficiency
upon completion. Since the Japanese courses were designed to be embed-
ded in the higher education program offered by an international university
in Vietnam, other program components such as culture and language-­
related courses were included as they are irrefutably effective in the acqui-
sition of fundamental linguistics knowledge and intercultural
communication skills while learning a third language as an adult. The
actual hours required for learning the Japanese language have been limited
and very much dependent on students’ motivation and engagement levels
with the target language, which is not under the direct control of the
course designer and instructors.
Nevertheless, these flipped classroom and authentic assessment policies
work well in adjusting the usual syllabus and learning methods. The culti-
vation of innovative thinking starts with a reflection on the thinking that
currently exists. We have not abandoned the previous efforts, including
the structural syllabus that Japanese language education worldwide has
relied on for more than three decades. On top of that, throughout the
designing, delivering, and revising process, we also learnt several
48 E. YAMATO

important lessons about realizing changes as an institution. The educa-

tional policies of the university are crucial when implementing drastic
changes in educational practices. Due to a number of constraints, such as
finances, workload, and resources, we could not have accomplished what
we did without the strong conviction of the campus leadership team. To
add one online software/application, we need a license, a workforce to
support both instructors and students, and devices to be able to run it and
make it accessible to all, as well as space to store the devices. The executing
teams must also have flexible mindsets even though the policies are imple-
mented from the top down. Different courses have different characteris-
tics, and the lecturers should agree on what they are delivering.
It’s also worth highlighting the fact that the words we use in the poli-
cies can be interpreted differently. Without an understanding of the broad
sense of “authenticity” in the authentic assessment policy, the Japanese
program could not fit into this framework. In the course of second and
third language acquisition, students have limited proficiency to carry out
authentic communication, especially at the beginner levels. This means
that if “authenticity” is only for carrying out real work projects, it is not
possible for students to have an authentic assessment until they have
achieved a workable level in Japanese. It is also important not to limit
ourselves to sharing practices and issues only within our own field of study
when looking for the best assessment and delivery formats. Opening to all
possibilities and hearing about what others are doing helps us to have new
ideas for each course.
To be confident in what you have decided to do, opening our mind to
students’ feedback is essential. Negative feedback can be heartbreaking at
the surface level of the words used, but if we think about the reasons why
students choose particular expressions in their feedback, it leads to insight-
ful understanding or changes being made to existing practices. Qualitative
input by students and external stakeholders should be reflected within a
particular program background and the learning outcomes of each program.
Finally, the mindsets of both instructors and students are key to making
any innovation effective. For higher education especially, students should
be informed as to why they are learning in ways that differ from what they
have been accustomed to. Even though they may have been exposed to
similar methods before, as adult learners they should be guided to under-
stand the reason for the learning methods used. Institutional policies are a
driving force for innovation, but the people involved in learning and teach-
ing are key players in ensuring that new educational practices are fruitful.
 3 OUT OF THE ORDINARY: IMPLEMENTATION OF A NEW JAPANESE… 49

References
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 CHAPTER 4

A Trilingual K-12 Program in Siem Reap:

Reflecting on Successes and Failures

Stephen Louw, Raksmey Rath, and Wenwen Tian

In 2016, the authors of this chapter established a trilingual K-12 program

in Siem Reap, Cambodia. This was the first trilingual program in the city,
offering Khmer, English, and Chinese, and was innovative in its attempt to
integrate content and language learning utilizing an adapted transitional
immersion framework. The program was designed by the first two authors,
but its implementation has since fallen to the head of the English, Khmer,

S. Louw (*)
Faculty of Liberal Arts, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi,
Bangkok, Thailand
e-mail: stephen.lou@kmutt.ac.th
R. Rath
Westgate International School, Siem Reap, Cambodia
e-mail: raksmey@western-international.edu.kh
W. Tian
School of Foreign Studies, Northwestern Polytechnical University,
Xi’an, People’s Republic of China
e-mail: wenwen.tian@nwpu.edu.cn

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 51

Switzerland AG 2024
L. Phung et al. (eds.), Innovation in Language Learning and
Teaching, New Language Learning and Teaching Environments,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46080-7_4
52 S. LOUW ET AL.

and Chinese departments at the school. In this chapter, we report an eval-

uation of the program. Taking an interpretive phenomenological approach,
we aimed to explore the perspectives of these three leaders on the pro-
gram’s successes and failures thus far. Interviews of the department heads
were analyzed to identify stories and anecdotes that give expression to
their lived experience as leaders of their teaching teams. The findings indi-
cate the three heads perceived the program’s success and failures in dis-
tinct ways, expressing dissimilar concerns about the functioning of their
departments in the school. One important insight emerging from the data
is a lack of interdepartmental collaboration, possibly a result of rivalry over
students’ classroom time and school resources. These findings are useful
to understand the concerns and challenges of academic managers as they
work to fulfill their departments’ goals.

Introduction
Siem Reap is a small city in northeast Cambodia with a population of less
than 200,000. As the gateway to the UNESCO world heritage site of
Angkor, it attracts large numbers of tourists, over 2.2 million in 2019
(Khmer Times, 8 June 2022). This tremendous tourist traffic in a rela-
tively small city means that many residents are heavily reliant on tourism-­
based incomes, either directly as tour guides, or indirectly through the
tourism service industry. Success in this environment requires confidence
in English, traditionally the tourists’ lingua franca. A recent increase in the
number of tourist arrivals from China, however, has added to the city’s
linguistic landscape. Around 35% of 2019 arrivals were from mainland
China (Ministry of Tourism, 2019), many of them not conversant in
English. There is an increasing awareness of the importance of both
English and Mandarin Chinese as keys to future success (Dahles et al.,
2020), which in turn has placed pressure on parents to ensure their chil-
dren obtain a multilingual education.
Education in Cambodia is compulsory for the six years of primary and
three years of lower-secondary grades. The final three years of upper sec-
ondary are non-compulsory. The national curriculum stipulates 30 hours
of classroom time a week in primary grades, and 40 hours in secondary
grades (Em, 2022), though not all state schools achieve this number of
hours. English is one of the ten mandated subjects at the secondary level
(Au Yong Lyn & Greco, 2022).
 4 A TRILINGUAL K-12 PROGRAM IN SIEM REAP: REFLECTING… 53

State schooling in Siem Reap faces several issues. A primary problem is

the lack of classrooms and facilities, so schools offer classes on a shift basis.
One group of students attend classes for four hours in the morning, and a
second group in the afternoon. This arrangement leaves individual stu-
dents free for a large portion of the day, and also means classroom time
falls below the stipulated number of hours per week. The lack of class-
rooms also means class sizes are large, officially up to 50 students (MoEYS,
2018), but in some cases far more, leading to challenges with classroom
management and learner engagement (Watson Todd, 2012). A second
problem is a shadow education program endemic in many state schools
(Bray, 2010; Marshall & Fukao, 2019). While ostensibly free, children in
state schools are encouraged to attend fee-based extra classes, often taught
by their own classroom teachers. Those who do not attend are at risk of
suffering negative consequences during regular school hours. Together,
these problems have created some mistrust in the state education system
and parents with means choose, instead, to enroll their children in private
schools.

Private Education in Siem Reap

Private schools offer students smaller class sizes, a more exclusive circle of
classmates, and greater accountability on the part of the school’s adminis-
tration. Traditionally, private schools specialize in either English or Chinese
courses. This specialization has led to children being enrolled in multiple
schools, each with its own focus. A child may study Khmer at a state school
in the morning, an intensive English course in the afternoon at a second
school, a Chinese class at a third school, and finally attend extra classes for
content subjects in Khmer in the evening. This imposes various challenges
on parents and students: the necessity for multiple uniforms, the logistics
of transporting the children to different locations, and the need for chil-
dren to acculturate to different schooling systems and juggle demands
from teachers who are unable to coordinate their efforts.
Increasing availability of private primary and secondary schools offering
the national curriculum now allows children to be enrolled in a single
school for Khmer, English, and Chinese. As an example, authors of this
chapter started to offer such a program, which we refer to as Campus 1.
The program at Campus 1 mirrors the already familiar system of a Khmer
program for half the day, English for the other half, and Chinese as an
54 S. LOUW ET AL.

optional extra. Parents can, therefore, select from a Khmer curriculum, an

English one, or both so their child attends a single school all day.
This buffet-style approach to education at Campus 1 can best be
described as a dual language bilingual program, which aims for a balance
of languages, close to 50%:50% (Baker, 2001). Central to a dual language
bilingual approach is the separation and compartmentalization of the lan-
guages. This facilitates using specialist teachers for each language and
ensures maximal language use in each time block. One problem with this
separation of languages was the disconnect between the two groups of
teachers and content in the different blocks. The Khmer teachers follow
the national Cambodian curriculum, the English teachers follow another
(in our case, an adapted version of Singaporean curriculum), and neither
group coordinates with the other to ensure continuity. As a result, subjects
may be taught twice in a single day by two different subject teachers in
two languages. Another problem has been that the two programs run
their own placement tests, meaning a child may need to change classes
according to their level for each language. For example, a student in Grade
8 in Khmer may be placed in Grade 2 in English.

Establishment of Campus 2
When planning our second campus, our aim was to ameliorate these prob-
lems by creating an integrated program which would avoid the duplication
of material by separating content areas by language and allowing students
to study with the same group of classmates all day. To do so, we made a
move away from a dual-language bilingual approach to an immersion-style
program (Baker, 2001).
The immersion bilingual system was first implemented in Canada in
1965. It has been shown to lead to literacy in L2 without hindering
achievement in the students’ L1 and has been implemented in schools
across the globe (Cenoz, 2013). Immersion programs are characterized
by six assumptions:

1. Both languages are prestigious.

2. Entry into the immersion program is voluntary.
3. Both languages are respected and allowed.
4. The teachers are bilingual. This facilitates communication that is
meaningful and authentic rather than contrived and repetitive.
 4 A TRILINGUAL K-12 PROGRAM IN SIEM REAP: REFLECTING… 55

5. All students start as monolinguals, creating a group of relatively

homogenous language users in which language development is
unthreatening and uniform.
6. The immersion program follows the mainstream curriculum.

In our new school, the languages involved are prestigious, entry into
the school is not compulsory, the students are (upon registration in kin-
dergarten) monolingual Khmers, and the content would follow the
Cambodian national curriculum. This met assumptions 1, 2, 5 and 6.
However, with assumptions 3 and 4 we were constrained by the local
context. As with other Asian countries, parents in Cambodia expect
English to be taught by native English-speaking teachers (Walkinshaw &
Oanh, 2014), who, almost as a rule, cannot speak Khmer. Similarly, many
Khmer content teachers do not have confidence in their English skills.
Because teachers would not be able to communicate, it would be impos-
sible to implement a fully integrated immersion program. Our solution
was to appoint a head for each language department who could cooperate
with one another to achieve some of the benefits of an immersion-style
bilingual program.
In designing the new program, we needed to decide how the languages
would be introduced and used across the 15-year span of the children’s
school career. This necessitated deciding when to introduce English
medium instruction. Immersion into the L2 can be early (kindergarten),
delayed (at around 9 or 10 years old), or late (at the secondary level).
Among studies supporting late commencement immersion is that of
Muñoz (2007), who found that late commencement, at 14 years old,
resulted in faster language learning progress. Similarly, Snow and
Hoefnagel-Höhle (1978) reported that younger learners (3–5 years old)
achieved lower success than a late commencement group (12–15 years
old). The Maldives, for instance, has successfully implemented a late com-
mencement bilingual system, opting to focus on L1 literacy in primary and
early middle school (Hameed, 2020).
There is, however, a substantial body of research showing that early
commencement leads to better learning outcomes. One argument put
forward for this is underpinned by the critical theory hypothesis (Penfield
& Roberts, 1959), which posits that children can acquire language to
native levels only if it is introduced before a certain age. Evidence support-
ing the success of early commencement includes studies of French immer-
sion programs in Canada (e.g., Johnson & Newport, 1989). Muñoz
56 S. LOUW ET AL.

(2007) suggests that early commencement is likely to be more effective for

aspects of the language best learned implicitly.
Notwithstanding the evidence on this issue, the decision about the age
of commencement for English in Campus 2 was dictated, again, by local
constraints. The first of these was parents’ expectations of quick results in
their children’s acquisition of English, preferably as early as kindergarten.
Late commencement immersion would not satisfy these parental expecta-
tions. A second constraint on age of commencement was the national
policy on entry into Cambodian universities. Tertiary institutions in
Cambodia require applicants to submit a Cambodian national school-­
leaving certificate. Foreign high-school diplomas are not accepted. For
our future Grade 12 students, we would expect there to be substantial
pressure on the students as they worked towards their final school-leaving
examination. Having a greater focus on Khmer language in the latter
stages of the program would facilitate this. Based on these two constraints,
the decision was made to adopt an early commencement approach to
English immersion.
Our next decision was to separate the content across languages.
Immersion programs use the immersion language as a medium of instruc-
tion for content subjects like mathematics and physical education. Since
we needed English to be the focus in the early years, and Khmer for later
years, we decided on a transitional system. Transitional bilingual educa-
tion programs prioritize one language and gradually transition to a priori-
tization of the other (Baker, 2001). These programs are more commonly
associated with minority language speakers being eased into a majority
language learning environment (e.g., Slavin & Cheung, 2005). For our
purposes, we wished to transition from English medium instruction to
Khmer to promote uptake of English in the early years, and then facilitate
preparation for the high-stake national examinations in Khmer at the sec-
ondary level.
Finally, we needed to decide how Chinese would fit. Our goal with
Chinese was basic communicative competence and literacy. As a result,
Chinese would be treated as a foreign language, with a limited number of
hours fixed across the children’s entire school career.
The program initially approved by the school board is summarized in
Fig. 4.1. It might be described as an inverted transitional immersion pro-
gram, with English (L2) the language of immersion in the lower grades,
transitioning to Khmer (L1) in the upper grades, and Chinese (FL) given
constant limited exposure. In the initial iteration, all content subjects were
 4 A TRILINGUAL K-12 PROGRAM IN SIEM REAP: REFLECTING… 57

35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Kindergarten Grades 1 to 3 Grades 4 to 6 Grades 7 to 9 Grades 10 to 12

English Khmer Chinese

Fig. 4.1 Summary of the trilingual transitional immersion curriculum

distributed between English and Khmer as the medium of instruction. For

example, mathematics was allocated to English medium in the early grades
and then Khmer medium from grade 6.
Our announcement of the plan to the academic teams led to vigorous
opposition from the Khmer department. It was felt that a poor foundation
in the early years would lead to difficulties at the higher levels in the crucial
period before the final Grade 12 examination. A second concern was the
allocation of core curricular subjects like mathematics to English teachers.
The curriculum was to follow the national Cambodian curriculum, but the
English teachers would not be following the prescribed national text-
books, and the delivery of any content subjects in English may undermine
students’ uptake of necessary skills and key terminology. Students would
have insufficient knowledge of the content material that forms the founda-
tion for the senior secondary years. To address these concerns, changes
were made to accommodate a greater presence of the Khmer teachers in
the early years, somewhat reducing the number of contact hours with the
English team.
The school is currently in its eighth year of operation. Children starting
in Grade 1 are now in the lower secondary phase. The highest grade
offered is Grade 11 and preparations are underway for the school’s first
Grade 12 group. It was timely, then, to explore the effectiveness of the
program. There is a rich literature on curriculum and program evaluation
(Klenowski, 2010; McCormick & James, 2018) often based on
58 S. LOUW ET AL.

quantitative metrics like student performance in tests (e.g., Faubert,

2009). In this chapter, however, we wished to explore the program’s
effectiveness through a more qualitative lens, eliciting the perspectives of
the three key stakeholders tasked with implementing it.

Phenomenology
To gain access to the perspectives of the three department heads, we made
use of an interpretive phenomenological approach. Phenomenology aims
to give access to an individual’s lived experiences and the personal mean-
ings attached to them. Interpretive phenomenology, based on the work of
Martin Heidegger, studies ‘how something appears’ (King, 2001, p 109),
thereby guiding a researcher’s exploration of a particular phenomenon.
From a Heideggerian perspective, a phenomenon is something that is
taken for granted but concealed because it is ubiquitous (Heidegger,
1996). The focus of interest in this chapter was the experience and mean-
ing of managing a department, a daily, taken-for-granted experience and
therefore hidden from view by those engaged in it. Interpretive phenom-
enology aims to bring such hidden experiences to light and can be charac-
terized as follows (Van der Mescht, 2004):

1. It is an interpretive methodology where emphasis is on accessing the

lived experience of the participants through interviews.
2. Participants are purposively selected on the basis of their experience
of the phenomenon.
3. The researcher adopts a naïve position, ignoring a priori theories or
suppositions. This characteristic sets interpretive phenomenology
apart from Husserlian phenomenology, which includes researchers’
reflections (Schweitzer, 2002).
4. Analysis is based on natural meaning units, which focus on meanings
as they are expressed in the words of the participant.
5. The researcher describes what is presented, attempting to capture
the lived world of the participant.

Phenomenology has previously been used in investigation of educa-

tional leadership (e.g., Handford & Leithwood, 2013) and in school pro-
gram evaluation (Isobel et al., 2016). It is a powerful way of making sense
of leaders’ experience and can provide useful insights into the complex
process of implementing educational programs.
 4 A TRILINGUAL K-12 PROGRAM IN SIEM REAP: REFLECTING… 59

Method
Interviews were arranged with the head teachers of the three language
departments, Khmer, English, and Chinese. These three heads are respon-
sible for achieving the program goals set out for their language and the
subjects taught through that medium of instruction. In addition, given
that the immersion program assumes some level of cooperation between
the departments, these heads are expected to work together to create a
coherent school-wide program for the students. The three participants
were informed of the goals of the study and that any findings would not
constitute an evaluation of their performance.
As school directors, we felt it would not be appropriate to conduct the
interviews ourselves. We, therefore, recruited three colleagues, one for
each language, to conduct the interviews. Following the principle of the
naïve researcher, such third-party interviewers are justified in interpretive
phenomenological studies (Wright-St Clair 2015). To ensure consistency
in the data collection, interviewers were instructed in the use of an active
listening approach to draw out anecdotes (Louw et al., 2011) and given
an interview protocol based around the program evaluation framework
proposed by Tsou and Chen (2014).
The interviews were transcribed and translated into English. The three
participants were asked to read the transcripts as a member check. No
changes were requested, but each elaborated somewhat on the content.
These elaborations were added to the data. The data were then arranged
into natural meaning units (Van der Mescht, 2004) which were used to
explore participants’ anecdotes and stories. In the description of the find-
ings below, we have attempted to capture the essence of the leaders’ expe-
riences of managing a department. All names are pseudonyms.

Findings

English
The head of the English Department, Mandy, has led the department
since the school opened, and had some part in the initial design of the
program. She is a native English-speaking South African who started her
career as a kindergarten teacher but was promoted to the position of head
of English on the school’s opening. As the longest serving member of the
academic team, she has witnessed the various iterations as the program was
60 S. LOUW ET AL.

adapted in response to the Khmer team’s concerns over the number of

hours allocated to Khmer medium instruction.
In her professional experience as a teacher, Mandy prides herself on the
success she has achieved with her classes and expresses trust and affection
for the individual students. She knows the names of each of the 260 chil-
dren in the school and has taught all 17 classes. Her judgment of the suc-
cess of the students in the school comes, then, from her personal interaction
with the students and their work.
Mandy’s experience of the program is overwhelmingly positive. She
sees the students as succeeding in terms of its goals of getting students
speaking and writing English confidently. In her view, the program ‘has
just proven that it works because their English is so strong. It’s unreal.’ Her
view is that the children in the lower levels who have been at the school
since kindergarten are likely to surpass the success evident with the current
upper grades, ‘the younger ones are going to definitely surpass the older ones
right now.’ She feels confident that the program’s goal of an IELTS 6.5
score for each child at the end of Grade 12, once seemingly over-­optimistic,
is unquestioningly achievable.
Mandy believes that the students are well-informed through their
involvement on social media, a result of their online learning during the
Covid lockdowns. The students enjoy studying in English and have
responded well to the project-based activities that have been introduced
over the years. That this Western-style education has been embraced by
students is evidenced by their wish for even more American-style innova-
tions in the school: ‘They want a lot more of what we’re offering. They want
a student council, and they also want Prom.’ According to Mandy, students
show responsibility and initiative. For instance, the secondary students
started a chess club and have made a noticeable effort to be more punctual
for school in the mornings. Mandy sees the success of her department
indicated through students’ participation in cultural activities such as the
Christmas Day party, and their willingness to act as translators at teacher-­
parent meetings for parents unable to interact with the English and
Chinese teachers.
Mandy admits that there are some problems. In response to a small
group of students in each class having notably weaker English, she started
a pull-out program which temporarily allows weak students access to a
support teacher. This intervention affects two or three students per class,
or around 20% of the student population. Mandy feels this has made a real
difference: ‘You can see their attitude has completely changed … They’re
 4 A TRILINGUAL K-12 PROGRAM IN SIEM REAP: REFLECTING… 61

getting better results.’ She worries about the entire Grade 7 group, which
is unaccountably weaker than the other classes, possibly a result of being a
very small group who do not get along well.
Several practical problems face the department. One is the extraordi-
nary workload imposed on the students by the Khmer department. English
teachers, therefore, avoid assigning time-consuming homework or large
out-of-class projects. Another problem is that the Khmer teachers brush
aside English as unimportant in favor of Khmer-medium subjects.
Children’s failure to achieve high scores in Khmer subjects leads to pun-
ishment by both the school and the parents, forcing students to prioritize
Khmer even though they report to prefer studying with the international
teachers. In terms of a working relationship with the other departments,
Mandy describes the head of the Khmer department (Dara) as amazing
because he is very modern. The Khmer teaching team, however, are still so
traditional and use techniques which, she feels, prioritize politeness rather
than interpersonal relationships. She laments that the Khmer teachers
avoid participating in school events (like the Christmas party), and that
their poor English impedes bonding between the Khmer and international
teams. As the number of hours allocated to English dwindles in the higher-­
level grades and students become more removed from the English teach-
ers, Mandy feels that they miss their English lessons, probably ‘because it’s
fun. They get to be themselves. It’s where they want to be.’
In terms of her own teaching team, a major obstacle to further success
is the quality of some of the teachers. To deal with teacher inexperience
and lack of expertise, Mandy runs regular in-service teacher workshops.
However, not all teachers implement the new ideas, nor do they explore
lesson materials beyond the textbook. ‘They’re just doing it as a job. And
even with training, you’ll see things don’t change.’ Mandy feels teachers like
these undermine the team’s success with the students.

Khmer
The head of the Khmer department, Dara, has over 18 years’ experience
in the Khmer national school system. He has been head of the Khmer
department for three years and is the third department head since the
school opened. He has a reputation as forward thinking and modern, hav-
ing implemented a variety of innovations such as a Khmer reading compe-
tition and Khmer language computer courses. He aims to be relaxed and
personable with the students, but his job demands preclude the possibility
62 S. LOUW ET AL.

of frequent classroom instruction. As a result, much of his interaction with

students is in morning assemblies or in his role as disciplinarian.
As a relative newcomer to the team, Dara has inherited a system which
he had no part in developing. He is aware that there have been lengthy
negotiations with the other departments over the number of hours allo-
cated to Khmer since the school started, and he is sensitive to the claims
of the other departments over student time. Occasional discussions over
students’ classroom hours still form a focus in his dealings with the other
department heads. This, however, is marginal to the more serious issue of
getting students ready for the national examinations, the results of which
affect the students’ futures but are also used as a yardstick for the success
of the entire school. In preparing for these exams, the department needs
as much time with the students as possible and more resources from the
school. For instance, he points out that the English Department has a
library in which students can read and explore texts at their leisure, but no
such space has been allocated for a Khmer library.
Since the students spend much of their time with the English
Department when they are in the lower grades, Dara largely concerns
himself with the secondary-level students who are working towards their
national Grade 9 and 12 examinations. In secondary school, the Khmer
language dominates the students’ schedule, and weaknesses in their learn-
ing and knowledge become worryingly evident.
Dara’s primary concern is that students lack the basics. In Grade 7,
when the number of Khmer-medium instruction hours first exceeds
English, he feels it necessary to check students’ basic Khmer literacy.
Students need to function in the Khmer medium with complex content
and jargon in subjects like mathematics, physics, and chemistry, for which
they need a firm foundation. Since students have largely studied this con-
tent material in English to this point, there is the threat that gaps in their
knowledge will impinge on their success. Dara’s guess is that ‘between 70
and 90 percent’ of the students coming into secondary school have the
ability to succeed. He takes this to be a worrying number since a great deal
of work is necessary with those who cannot meet the minimum require-
ments. Since the end of the Covid lockdowns, he has instituted extra les-
sons and additional work for the low-achieving students. It is unclear,
however, how successful this intervention has been at this stage.
There are further barriers to success. Students do not voluntarily par-
ticipate in extra-curricular activities organized by the department. For
example, the Khmer reading competition attracted relatively few students.
 4 A TRILINGUAL K-12 PROGRAM IN SIEM REAP: REFLECTING… 63

This may be, Dara believes, a result of students’ lack of confidence. A sec-
ond barrier to success is the lack of parental support for the school’s
efforts. An example Dara gives is the school’s policy with mobile phones.
In the classrooms, phones are banned because they distract students and
interrupt the lesson. However, parents put pressure on the school to allow
students to keep their phones with them. Dara feels that this lack of trust
from parents for school policy undermines the school’s efforts. A third
barrier to success is the attitude of some of the students, especially in terms
of willingness to put in effort. A lazy approach to study, he believes, cou-
pled with poor routines at home, are detrimental to the department’s
work in readying students for the high-stake examinations.
Despite these problems, there are successes of which Dara is proud.
The school is constantly developing its facilities to improve the range of
courses that can be made available to the students. The department has
recently introduced a robotics program, as well as an innovative life orien-
tation course, both of which students seem to really enjoy. The life orien-
tation course incorporates ‘various disciplines such as Sociology, Psychology,
Political Science, Human Movement Science, Labor Studies and Industrial
Studies,’ and has been helpful in getting students to ‘know more about life’s
realities.’ The results from this course indicate that ‘students can be more
competitive to achieve their personal goals.’ There are also instances where
students have surprised Dara with their enthusiasm. He cites two examples
where students have really excelled beyond all expectations: the school
fair, an open day for parents to inspect student work, and in inter-school
sports competitions which students have taken very seriously although
they have not yet succeeded in beating rival schools. These extra-curricular
activities have led to students ‘building teamwork and tenacity.’

Chinese
Lee, the head of the Chinese department, is a Khmer national fully bilin-
gual in Khmer and Mandarin. He took over the position of department
head during the Covid lockdowns when the previous Chinese-teaching
team returned to mainland China. In the years before his arrival, those
teachers worked with minimal supervision, deciding for themselves what
to teach. The Chinese department has now increased to five full-time
teachers: three expatriates from Taiwan and China, and two Khmers. Lee
leads this team, manages course material and content, and tries to stan-
dardize the teachers’ classroom practice. He is a passionate teacher and
64 S. LOUW ET AL.

enjoys getting into the classroom when he can. He believes in prioritizing

student learning, which is an ongoing struggle since students themselves
lack awareness of strategies for learning and the long-term benefits of hard
work and effort.
Lee understands that the school’s Chinese program is small scale in that
the time allocated to Chinese language is limited: four hours a week for all
grades. This severely restricts what can be realistically achieved. Given
these constraints, his goal for the department is to simply ‘teach students
some very foundational Chinese,’ including Chinese Pinyin, simple Chinese
character strokes, and basic conversation.
A barrier to achieving these very modest goals is the demanding work-
load imposed on students by the school program in general. Content sub-
jects taught in English and Khmer dominate students’ attention, who
therefore fail to focus on Chinese as a purposeful goal. With the limited
time available in the school schedule and the distracted attitude of the
students, even very simple language learning goals seem to be unachiev-
able. Lee’s solution is to prioritize homework, thereby extending learning
beyond what can be scheduled during school hours. Students are fre-
quently assigned homework based on classroom instruction. This works
particularly well for mechanical aspects of the language, like character
strokes. He has found, however, that students are not easily motivated to
do this homework and he has had to use various strategies to both encour-
age and force students to do so. One strategy is to ‘include a behavior
score’ on the Chinese score sheet which reflects students’ completion of
homework, and also their conduct both in class and on the school campus,
which Lee believes reflects their moral values.
Lee has a strong conviction about the development of students’ morals
and ethics. Chinese cannot be learned without the cultural and moral ele-
ments that are built into the language. It is the Chinese teacher’s job not
only to teach the language, but to incorporate the essence of Chinese
moral values. ‘I believe that giving students moral instruction is more impor-
tant than teaching them language skills only.’ To do so, he has regular
conversations with individual students on issues like punctuality, respect-
ing teachers’ time, and completing homework. He finds students’ tardi-
ness in the mornings unacceptable and feels the five-minute grace period
given by the school to late students encourages bad habits. With China a
growing influence in the country, learning the language and culture is
increasingly important for the students’ future. To Lee, students appear to
be unaware of the importance of learning and using Chinese, and also of
 4 A TRILINGUAL K-12 PROGRAM IN SIEM REAP: REFLECTING… 65

the cultural values that the Chinese hold to be important. Dealing with
this will take time, but he aims to build a ‘culture of Chinese’ in the school
through activities like preparing gifts for parents and grandparents.
The students’ success at Chinese is poorer than might be expected.
Currently, Lee estimates around 30% of students are reaching the course
targets. In each class, there are a few students who excel, and the teachers
can use these to motivate and help the others in the class. Despite this low
success, Lee ‘can see the progress of the students’ and does not feel unduly
concerned by the limited proficiency of the students.
In addition to the severe limitations on the time and students’ apparent
lack of awareness of the importance of Chinese and Chinese cultural val-
ues, Lee feels there are two further challenges to achieving the Chinese
department’s goals of schoolwide basic Chinese literacy. The first is the
negative influence of parents, who are insensitive to the demands placed
on the students and have unreasonable expectations for their children’s
success. Lee feels they do not give their children the right emotional sup-
port and their heavy-handed techniques pressure students unnecessarily.
What students need from parents and teachers is care and support to see
them through their learning journey.
A final challenge comes from the poor quality of some of the members
of the Chinese teaching team. Lee asks that his teachers provide weekly
lesson plans, samples of their classroom worksheets, and records of the
students’ performance. In his experience, the three foreign Chinese teach-
ers fulfill these requirements easily, possibly a result of their language pro-
ficiency. The Khmer Chinese teachers, however, are late and slovenly with
their teaching records. They need constant assistance with their teaching
load and are prone to giving inadequate feedback on students’ work. This
lack of timely and useful feedback means students are not aware of their
errors. Unprofessional teachers risk making students lose their trust in
Chinese. There is, then, a need for professional development, which Lee
has not yet found a way of scheduling into the teachers’ busy routines.

Discussion
In designing the program for our new school, our proposal had been to
create an environment in which students could develop confidence in
three languages. Our broader aims were threefold: a Khmer national
school-leaver’s certificate, an IELTS score of 6.5, and competence in con-
versational Chinese. We saw an integration of these goals into a single
66 S. LOUW ET AL.

program to be an improvement on the multiple-school arrangement pop-

ular in Siem Reap, in which content and language programs are not coher-
ently coordinated. Since its opening, the school has attracted a strong
following, now with a student population of over 250. As a metric, stu-
dent enrollment indicates a measure of the program’s success in the com-
munity. The focus of this chapter is on whether the school program is
achieving the various goals we set out when designing the program.
Using a phenomenological lens, we aimed to make known the lived
experiences of the three department heads to get an insider’s view on the
successes and failures of their respective departments. The value of a phe-
nomenological approach has been demonstrated in previous studies on
school leadership (Smith, 2019; van der Mescht, 2004). What is striking
from the data is the disparity of the opinions on the program’s success, and
the differences they identify as the cause for its problems. Only Mandy is
positive about what has been achieved. Dara and Lee are preoccupied by
the perceived failures. Dara focuses on student deficiencies, such as their
laziness, and Lee feels the problem is the students’ lack of awareness of
Chinese culture. Both indicate a lack of parental support. These findings
are useful for us, as directors, to understand the motivations and preoc-
cupations that drive the department heads’ decisions about handling stu-
dents and managing the teachers in their departments.
A rare point of consensus across the interviews is the enormous pres-
sure on students although different opinions are expressed on the sources
of pressure. Lee sees it as a result of parental expectations, Mandy from the
demands from the Khmer department, and Dara from the upcoming
high-stake final examinations. There is also no consensus on the effects of
this pressure on students and the program. For Lee, students are distracted
and unwilling to complete Chinese homework, and for Mandy it means
fewer opportunities to do out-of-class projects. That each leader identifies
different causes and effects suggests this has not formed a focus of joint
reflection by the three as a team, and perhaps a lack of coordinated
response to the issue. Looking at these findings, we wondered whether it
would be possible for the three departments to work together to mitigate
students’ workload, for example, by rotating homework assignments or
examination dates.
A second point of consensus across all three heads is the limited num-
ber of classroom learning hours. Lee sees the Chinese program as small
scale and, therefore, needs to make compromises on what can be feasibly
achieved. Similarly, Mandy believes that the Khmer teachers ‘brush aside’
 4 A TRILINGUAL K-12 PROGRAM IN SIEM REAP: REFLECTING… 67

English lessons as unimportant, as do parents and the school administra-

tion, who prioritize success in Khmer. Since the opening of the school, the
English and Khmer departments have regularly negotiated, both in formal
meetings and casual discussions, the distribution of hours between the two
languages. This competition over the limited resource of student time has
become the focus for some interdepartmental rivalry. Such rivalry has been
widely reported elsewhere in business and school settings (e.g., Sykes,
2015). Conflict between the departments is not explicitly stated in the
data, but there’s also no mention of cooperation. Moreover, explicit com-
ments on the other departments are sometimes disparaging. For instance,
Mandy comments on the poor teaching methods of the Khmer teachers,
and Dara laments that his department’s resources are inferior to those of
the English Department. Again, we interpret this as a lack of a systematic
effort for the departments to work together. Since the school’s aim is to
offer an integrated program with three languages, greater interdepart-
mental efforts are a crucial area of focus for the future of the school and
similar educational innovation. Finding a strategy to encourage such
cooperation is an issue we will need to focus on in the years ahead, but we
suspect that such a change in culture will require careful consideration and
intervention (Tichnor-Wagner et al., 2016).
In terms of student success, opinion is divided. Mandy believes strongly
that the program is working and praises the students on their English levels
and their success in their uptake of American school customs, like prom.
Furthermore, the small number of weak students in each grade, which
Mandy estimates to be around 10% of the school population, are being
successfully handled. The Chinese and Khmer departments are less posi-
tive about the success of the program in terms of student learning. In
Chinese, only ‘30%’ of the students are showing success, but because they
are making good progress, this figure appears not to be a source of distress.
Dara estimates the success rate of students in the Khmer department at
between 70 and 90%. It is noteworthy that Mandy and Dara estimate simi-
lar statistics for student success, but their interpretations are distinctly dif-
ferent. While Mandy sees this as a resounding success, Dara feels the figure
indicates serious problems. The source of this difference in perception
may be a result of the negative washback that drives the Khmer depart-
ment’s efforts. Since the focus of attention for the Khmers is the final
school exit examinations, failure is a serious issue. On the contrary, the
English Department’s goal of an IELTS 6.5 for Grade 12 students is likely
to be considered less pressing, especially by the Khmers. Unlike the
68 S. LOUW ET AL.

national school examinations, students have the option of retaking the

IELTS multiple times.
A second area of disagreement among department heads is a descrip-
tion of student behavior. Dara describes students as lazy and showing poor
attitudes, and Lee describes them as unmotivated and lacking morals. By
contrast, Mandy’s experience is that the students are responsible and
respectful. These disparate perspectives on students’ character may be
explained by differences in teacher expectations, the dissimilar approaches
to classroom methodologies, and different perceptions of classroom man-
agement. Having had so much time with the foreign teaching staff in the
early years of their schooling, the students may have become familiar with
the interactive classroom styles and open communication that the interna-
tional language teachers encourage. In the Khmer and Chinese class-
rooms, teachers may prefer a more hierarchical classroom congruent with
high-power distance (de Jong et al., 2013). Mandy’s comments that the
Khmer teachers are still so traditional supports this explanation.
The different perceptions of student attitude may also explain inconsis-
tencies in the three accounts of student involvement in extracurricular
activities. To Mandy, students are highly involved in school activities, as
seen in the Christmas festival. Dara, however, states the students’ involve-
ment is poor and refers to the low turnout in the reading competition. As
with classroom methods, Mandy reasons that the hierarchical and tradi-
tional approach taken by Khmer teachers may be a reason why students
appear to embrace English activities more readily.

Conclusion
This chapter of the lived experiences of the department heads has pro-
vided valuable insights into their perceptions of the program’s success.
Each of the heads provided a distinct perspective, reflecting their different
preoccupations that inform their understanding of their experience of
managing a team and fulfilling their departments’ goals. Some findings
from the study were predictable, such as the competition between the
three departments over student learning time, an issue which arose even
before the school opened. The data has, however, shone light on the
meanings attributed to these challenges from each department head. To
some extent, what was not expressed by the three managers, particularly
the absence of any evidence of interdepartmental cooperation, is of greater
interest to us as school directors, and a worthwhile focus for attention as
 4 A TRILINGUAL K-12 PROGRAM IN SIEM REAP: REFLECTING… 69

we work to develop the program. With these findings in mind, we are

looking to build strategies for increasing collaboration between the depart-
ments in the upcoming academic year.
The relevance of our experience with the planning and development of
the school may be limited to our particular context (Burdick-Will et al.,
2013). Immersion and transitional bilingual programs are common across
the globe (Cenoz, 2013) but have different characteristics (Polanco &
Luft de Baker, 2018). We have not encountered an immersion program in
the literature which initially prioritizes a foreign or second language and
later transitions to first language literacy. Nevertheless, these findings may
be useful to the bilingual community, and to schools considering setting
up a program in similar communities. That Mandy feels the students in the
school have been able to achieve excellent levels of English by early sec-
ondary levels indicates the possible effectiveness of this kind of early com-
mencement immersion. Despite Dara’s concern about students’ lack of
basics, we would argue that a 70 to 90% success in Khmer indicates that
early immersion has not severely affected the students’ L1 literacy. In fact,
Dara’s guess that 10–30% of our student population can be considered
low achievers may represent the proportion of low-achieving students in
any student body (OECD, 2016).
Less clear is the result of our decision to include Chinese as a foreign
language. Lee’s estimate at 30% success is worrying. With students, par-
ents, and the school prioritizing the English and Khmer programs, there
are credible reasons for students’ lack of motivation to study Chinese.
Though useful for marketing the school, the effectiveness of this entire
department is in question and needs careful reconsideration. It is possible
that such shoehorning of the third language into the program, and the
resulting poor performance of the department, is a reason why schools
may be unwilling to introduce trilingual education. We believe that
Chinese literacy is a worthwhile goal given the probable future directions
of the tourism industry. However, its status in the school as small scale may
be inhibiting students’ focus on it. In the wake of these findings, the aca-
demic director and Lee have begun auditing the Chinese department to
explore ways to increase its exposure in the school.
There is no doubt that the implementation of this innovative program
constituted a major risk. Eight years on, we personally believe it is a suc-
cess. The students speak English with confidence, are on track to success
in their Khmer examinations, and Chinese is an accepted, though mar-
ginal, part of school life. Perhaps some of this success has been the result
70 S. LOUW ET AL.

of the willingness of the department heads to negotiate and compromise

with one another on the initial program design, and the dedication of each
head to the success of their respective departments. The data shows, how-
ever, that there is more work to be done to strengthen and develop the
school leadership, particularly with inter-department collaboration. As
directors, this empirical approach to investigating the school’s leadership
has provided a fascinating set of insights which have created a focus for
developing the academic department in the years ahead. In another eight
years, we believe it will be worth revisiting these findings, and re-­evaluating
the school’s progress through the lens of its academic leaders.

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 CHAPTER 5

Harnessing Partnerships and Technology

to Establish a New Language Program
in Cambodia

Joseph Ng and Patrick Mannion

Introduction
Starting a new English program at a private university in Cambodia’s port
city of Sihanoukville seems almost counterintuitive. This city’s spectacular
transformation is no secret, amply reported in Southeast Asian media over
the past five years (e.g., Lim, 2022). A former haven for Western back-
packers soaked in temple itineraries to detox on the long white beaches of
Cambodia’s southwest outcrop, Sihanoukville is now craggily crowned
with a skyline of skyscrapers and skeleton infrastructure from an explosive
but abandoned infusion of Chinese capital from around 2017 (Maliszewska

J. Ng (*)
Department of English, Life University, Sihanoukville, Cambodia
e-mail: biblicist@gmail.com
P. Mannion
Faculty of Foreign Studies, Kansai Gaidai University, Osaka, Japan
e-mail: mannionp@kansaigaidai.ac.jp

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 73

Switzerland AG 2024
L. Phung et al. (eds.), Innovation in Language Learning and
Teaching, New Language Learning and Teaching Environments,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46080-7_5
74 J. NG AND P. MANNION

& van der Mensbruggh, 2019; The Organisation for Economic

Co-operation and Development, 2018). Linguistically, the battle for sec-
ond language prominence has shifted from French in colonial times to
English to Mandarin. Add to this the advent of the coronavirus pandemic,
the public affairs response of Western diplomatic missions, and the vicis-
situdes of student recruitment at local universities, and you get some
unique challenges to establishing a postgrad English enclave in the
port city.
Facing declining enrollment, most critically in the English Department,
the university in focus in this chapter (henceforth the university) pivoted to
try some new initiatives, including the innovative exploitation of strategic
partnerships and technologies to establish a new degree program. Under
the adverse circumstances already mentioned, decades-long “unassailable”
objections to tech applications suddenly melted and morphed into bril-
liant imperatives as school lockdowns took effect. PDF textbooks, Zoom
classes, a whole succession of learning management systems (LMSs), auto-
mated assessments, and even asynchronous classes took root. The chal-
lenge was to select and cobble together as optimal a solution as possible
for the survival and possible success of all stakeholders.
Besides technology, strategic partnerships also played a significant role
in the survival. Most notably, the American Embassy in Phnom Penh from
March 2021 helped avail the university with two PhD teaching fellows
from the US State Department’s English Language Fellow Program,
which is administered by Georgetown University (US Department of
State, n.d.), to complement the pool of eight volunteer teachers at the
university. This would happen virtually over Zoom initially and then, with
the lifting of Covid travel advisories, onsite. Additionally, social connec-
tions to the international schools in the vicinity created teacher recruit-
ment opportunities with foreign teachers unable to travel to their home
countries due to international lockdowns. Yet, with the start-up successes
came mixed results and outright disappointments. But an unlikely MA in
English program had been born in a Mandarin-ascendant enclave in
Cambodia, with teething challenges still attendant.
This chapter primarily surveys, from the head of English Department’s
(Joseph’s) point of view, what transpired, both positively and negatively,
and the slightly innovative if serendipitous efforts to make redemptive
lemonade from the unhappy postsecondary lemon. Joseph, who has lived
and worked in Sihanoukville since 2017, has spent much of his life in
Southeast Asia. Through strategic partnerships and technology adoption,
 5 HARNESSING PARTNERSHIPS AND TECHNOLOGY TO ESTABLISH A NEW… 75

he was able to witness the birth of a postgraduate English degree program

in an otherwise hopeless situation in Sihanoukville. Patrick contributes to
this chapter from his experiences being an online instructor for the univer-
sity from March through August 2022, and from being physically present
on campus from then until June 2023.

Harnessing Partnerships and Technology

to Establish a New Language Program in Cambodia

As one of the anticipated engines of economic growth for the Kingdom of

Cambodia, the southwestern port city of Sihanoukville has been carrying
the hopes of the entire nation (Khmer Times, 2022). Overlaying these
hopes were the global developments of China’s Belt and Road Initiative
(BRI) (Maliszewska & van der Mensbruggh, 2019) and the global coro-
navirus pandemic (World Health Organization, 2022). The result was a
massive transformation of an idyllic Westerner backpacker’s beachside ref-
uge to something quite unrelated (Sorkhean, 2020), including a virtual
emptying out of students at the English Department at the university,
which was a major tertiary institution in the city.

The Stunning Shenzhenization of Sihanoukville City

Problematizing the degradation of the postsecondary English language
education situation in Sihanoukville requires a bit of depiction of its recent
history for those not already tracking it on sources such as Channelnewsasia
and Aljazeera news, besides Khmer Times locally. Much of this description
is based on personal experiences and knowledge Joseph obtained from
living for years in Sihanoukville. That history may be observed in the
name change from Kampong Som (Chhang, 2021), whence its airport
code KOS, to Sihanoukville, in honor of the current monarch’s father,
and finally, as the Chinese investors inundated its streets and shops, to
Xigang, literally “West Port” in Mandarin. It is the third and last christen-
ing that is representative of the radical and rapid transformation of the city,
with devastating consequences on the learning and teaching of English.
English would no longer be the language of promise and prestige. The
choice of Shenzhen (Hui, 2020; Khmer Times, 2022) over Singapore
(Joseph’s erstwhile hometown) as an urban development model may be
prophetic. Shenzhen and Singapore grew out of small fishing villages
76 J. NG AND P. MANNION

into the large metropolises they are today. But they took different paths,
driven by political, economic, environmental, social, and linguistic choices
(Yamada, 2019).

Meteoric Wealth Trajectory

Fueling the dramatic changes was the flood of foreign direct investment
evidenced in a changed skyline and loss of the sea view, clogged streets
with Rolls Royce and Lexus SUVs juxtaposed with gleaming Bajaj tuk-­
tuks and legacy motorcycles, and real estate and rental prices ballooning to
ten times of what they were within the space of three years. Eighty new
casinos sprouted up all over the city (GGR Asia, 2022), with hotels and
restaurants associated with each one. Planeloads of Chinese tourists would
arrive at KOS airport and board coaches to their luxurious gambling des-
tinations. Many would invest in shops, mainly business-to-business, for
advertising, food, transport, financial services, for their compatriots.
In addition, I (Joseph) witnessed the appearance of mysterious building
complexes, some named “Chinatown,” situated beyond the city center,
seemingly dissociated from the rest of the metropolis. Difficult to access
and well guarded by private security, these veritable fortresses would be
ablaze with lighting at night against their dark semi-rural backdrop. It
would later emerge that beyond in-person and online gambling, these
would be scam operations with sophisticated slave-like conditions for “pig
slaughter” and honeypot strikes on the lonely and naive from Chinese,
English, and other language populations, raking in unknown amounts of
money (Ford & Vimonsuknopparat, 2022). What is clear was their ability
to attract and retain young people with salaries multiple times of what
their teachers were earning, and those with some facility in Mandarin
could command an additional premium.
While the Chinese Department at the university became the premier
choice of incoming freshmen, some of whom were said to be already earn-
ing in excess of their teachers, the English Department saw a significant
decline in intake, down to zero for the 2020 cohort.

Language and Power Shift

With the arrival of the new “mandarins” of power came new signboards
and a new name for the city, Xihanuke (西哈努克), which became in short-
hand Xigang (西港), to reflect the port status. Irate locals petitioned
 5 HARNESSING PARTNERSHIPS AND TECHNOLOGY TO ESTABLISH A NEW… 77

municipal officials to make sure that the big bold Chinese characters in
public did not outshine the letters of their native language, Khmer (Voun,
2019) (see an example in the photo below). Signs reflecting French,
Korean, Japanese, and other languages—including English—became
scarce, in tandem with the exodus of pizzerias and boulangeries, leaving
restaurants in the city with a uniform mala flavor.

A building in the city

To fully support the rapid urban development, the Cambodian govern-

ment plowed in USD 300 million to upgrade the roadways and drainage,
the latter a huge problem with flooding blamed on land reclamation of
ponds for new real estates (Khmer Times, 2021). A spectacular esplanade
was built over a quiet beach in the heart of the city. New Chinese shopping
centers and supermarkets popped up. But nothing approached the impact
of the new expressway linking the capital Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville,
reducing travel times to just two hours, a third of the time needed on the
old roadway (Ministry of Economy and Finance, General Department of
Public-Private Partnerships, n.d.; Ratha Chan, 2022; Xinhua, 2022).
From October 2022, day trips to the sea became possible for the capital
78 J. NG AND P. MANNION

dwellers, who hitherto may not have thought much of the Chinese invest-
ment in the highway or its strategic role in its global BRI.
Things might have gone down swimmingly had the Cambodian gov-
ernment not rather abruptly announced the end of its permission for
online gambling (Samean, 2021). In a matter of months, blooming busi-
nesses were shuttered and droves of investors obediently headed back to
China, pulling their kids out of school and bringing their families with
them (Sorkhean, 2020). Any prospect for a medium-term return after a
couple of years evaporated with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic
(World Health Organization, 2022). The remaining Chinese who headed
back north were greeted with new Zero Covid policies (Gan, 2022) that
stanched what regularly scheduled flights remained between the two
countries (Office of the Council of Ministers, 2020).
All over Cambodia, schools were closed, and the university was no
exception. If not for prior connections via Facebook and Messenger, later
augmented by Telegram, we might have lost contact for good. Things
were not looking up at the English Department. Enrollment was three in
Year 2, five in Year 3, and six in Year 4, at the end of 2020. At the end of
2021, it was down to zero Year 2 students, three Year 3 students, and four
Year 4 students. To round out the situation, the department’s largely vol-
unteer lecturers from India, China, and Korea had returned to their
homelands.

Surveying and Addressing

the Postsecondary Wasteland

Founded in the mid-2000s as a community outreach ministry of a Christian

church, the university hosted a resident faculty comprised of over 30 vol-
unteer lecturers from overseas, who taught subjects spanning nursing and
midwifery, business management and accountancy, architecture and civil
engineering, tourism and hospitality, computer science and math, and
Korean, Chinese, and English. The English Department looked like it was
heading for a suspension, as was what eventually happened to architecture
and tourism and hospitality. From a high of over a thousand students, the
student body had dwindled to just over 200 by 2020. All teachers received
early vaccinations and booster shots during the pandemic, thanks to gov-
ernment insistence, but with no end to the lockdowns in sight, speculation
was rife as to the next pivot. Should the university reinvent itself to become
 5 HARNESSING PARTNERSHIPS AND TECHNOLOGY TO ESTABLISH A NEW… 79

a vocational institute specializing in HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air

Conditioning) and auto repair? Or perhaps become a hospital, given the
pandemic’s healthcare needs? Or go online as much as possible?
For the English Department, the question was downright existential.
Was it better to drag on through online classes or shut down for a season?
Would the first option even be possible?

Softened Resistance to Ed Tech

Having co-invented BLORMS as a bifurcated ePortfolio LMS in Canada,
I (Joseph) was eager to sing and share the benefits of online tools, forma-
tive assessment, and community of practice (Wenger-Trayner & Wenger-­
Trayner, 2015) and peer-scaffolding pedagogical techniques upon first
arrival at the university in 2017. Little did I expect the pushback to these
ideas as wireless data access seemed affordable at USD 1 a week for 6GB,
iPhones and Androids apparently on every student, and everyone was
ostensibly smiling and eager to learn. As it turned out, the reality beneath
first blush was very different. Nothing could be done about the exam and
summative assessment-based grading scheme, due to the Ministry of
Education, Youth, and Sports’ policy. Pen and paper exams, twice a semes-
ter, reigned inviolate. Yet, shortly after school lockdowns were announced,
word had come down from the same authorities that LMSes and Zoom
were now acceptable, nay, compulsory.
Luddite cynicism and rejection melted away as faculty training courses
in LMSes were hurriedly organized for Edmodo, Google Classroom,
Canvas, and then back to Google Classroom. Previously heretical practices
like exams on Google Forms now became heralded as superior, with ranks
of faculty proctors staring into notebook screens acting as invigilators. To
be concise and charitable, we shall not discuss the proctoring outcomes at
this juncture.

Dormant Drawbridges: Pre-approved Programs

Right about this time, a visionary project to convert all curricula, text-
books, and course syllabi into a “Cyber University” was mandated for all
departments, and the English Department was able to pull it off through
an able assistant head who had, most serendipitously, just been hired and
who stayed for a few months, just long enough to complete the project,
before resigning. Even though only undergraduate classes were in
80 J. NG AND P. MANNION

operation with no foreseeable plans to start a postgraduate program, the

Cyber University conversion for the English Department forged ahead to
cover the MA in English portion as well. This covered the online curricu-
lum and the syllabi, PDF textbooks, and supplemental materials for every
course. The program had been approved by the Education Ministry and
university accreditation agency, and now they wanted to pre-approve the
online version as part of pandemic preparedness. As long as the door was
open to cyber anything, regardless of any future likelihoods, we might as
well put some postgraduate planes on the runway.

Sweets Down Serendipity Street

Often, divine providence appears in the most secular of garbs, not unlike
the pedestrian “coincidental” events in the biblical Book of Esther that
ultimately saved the lives of an ethnic diaspora. The street branching out
from the iconic two-lion statuary at the heart of the city to the now-­
defunct tourist jetty, lined with backpacker inns and eateries before the
great casino advent, is dubiously named Serendipity Street. In the bleak
pandemic midwinter, strategic partnerships seemed to lurk where none
seem to have existed. And this was exactly what complemented the sudden
openness to the deployment of technology at a critical moment.

Still Small Voices: Volunteer Partners

Résumés in by Sunday, May 24th [2020], please!
Anyone want to teach English over Zoom as a volunteer univer-
sity lecturer?

Out went the call on Joseph’s Facebook page on May 19, 2020, and to
the rescue came four unpaid volunteer lecturers from Tokyo, Taipei, and
Singapore. There were two others, from Ipoh, Malaysia, and Sihanoukville
itself, sponsored by a generous patron in Singapore. The lecturer from
Tokyo had just finished her master’s degree and was awaiting her gradua-
tion day in locked-down conditions. Rather than sit around, she jumped
in to teach four courses! One Singapore volunteer was a Bible college
lecturer who was a Facebook friend of a friend of Joseph’s. So was the
other Singapore lecturer, an author and university lecturer, who volun-
teered only when satisfied with a background check of Joseph’s LinkedIn
profile recommendations, as she would later divulge. And Taipei’s
 5 HARNESSING PARTNERSHIPS AND TECHNOLOGY TO ESTABLISH A NEW… 81

volunteer was an ex-colleague of mine (Joseph’s) who had left Cambodia

for good. Several of them had a paid subscription to Zoom and were will-
ing to use it to avoid the 40-minute cutoff on the free accounts. So,
through volunteer help alone and at no financial cost to the university, we
fulfilled our end of the contract to our undergraduate English majors.
Most of the Year 4 students served out their internships at an interna-
tional school associated with the university. One of them, though, was
confined to company housing as part of a football-betting syndicate. So I
(Joseph) got her to assist all the overseas lecturers in administrative work,
especially the corralling of students by phone to get on Zoom and taking
attendance.

Timely Transformers: Foreign Assistance Programs

In March 2021, the international PreK-12 school associated with the uni-
versity suggested that the university apply to the US State Department’s
English Language Fellow Program (US Department of State, n.d.), which
is administered by Georgetown University, to have an English Language
Fellow (ELF) teach at their school. As it turned out, the opportunity was
golden. Due to rampant and byzantine airport protocols around the
world, the U.S. State Department had issued travel advisories against
unnecessary flights overseas. And so our bid for an ELF to help teach
English and explain culture became one for a VELF (US Department of
State, n.d.), a Virtual Fellow who would teach over Zoom.
With the success of the bid, an instructor with a doctorate degree was
assigned to teach three courses a week, comprising two weekday sessions
and a Saturday morning session on business English attended by civil engi-
neering students besides our three English Y2s. In addition, a weeknight
conversation session was set up to provide cultural exchange and conver-
sational practice to exclusive private-island resort workers in the Koh Rong
Archipelago just off the coast of Sihanoukville. As it turned out, the
English Y2s dropped out, and the VELF found himself teaching into a
recording for much of the semester.
The mixed success of the VELF semester with the undergrads triggered
the idea of finally launching our pre-approved MA program, pending
approval for another VELF or even an in-person ELF. In March 2022,
such an approval was obtained, and a second instructor possessing a doc-
torate degree (Patrick) joined the inaugural postgraduate faculty, first as a
VELF and then, in August, as an ELF. Given the limited period of Patrick’s
82 J. NG AND P. MANNION

fellowship tenure, courses had to be tightly stacked within policy but with
little downtime to ensure timely completion of the 45-credit curriculum.
What existed as a pipedream on paper had become, quite unexpectedly,
not just a Cyber University curriculum but an actual on-Canvas series of
courses.

Scouring the Highways and Byways: Student Recruitment

Student recruitment took place on several fronts. Onsite discussions and
projections in the university predicted that the greatest interest would
come from educational institutions with English teachers and customer-­
facing government and commercial offices. So the university vice-­president
for graduate studies wrote invitation letters to seven secondary schools in
the surrounding Preah Sihanouk Province, made follow-up calls, and
waited. The waiting continues. He and I (Joseph) also spent a couple of
days marching up and down Ekareach Street, the main thoroughfare of
Sihanoukville, hitting up the managers at the dozen banks and offices
along that stretch. This was augmented by car rides to the tourist, port,
and religion/cults bureaus. Polite smiles and name card exchanges done,
it was time to wait. And wait.
Internal advertising went on in parallel, with teachers in the interna-
tional and local schools associated with the university. Likewise, a call went
out to the university’s alumni on Facebook, and one responded, from
Kampot, a smaller coastal town just east of Sihanoukville. And then some-
thing started humming, among the Filipino teachers on campus and then
their larger community beyond, and interest turned into enrollments.
Classes were initially scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on weekdays. Audit students
were welcome, a first for the university, to foster greater classroom and
online interactivity. To cater to the diverse work schedules represented,
synchronous in-person or online sessions were recorded for later viewing,
and the Canvas assignments and assessments allowed for asynchronous
participation.

Rearview Mirror on the First Couple of Blocks

By the end of 2022, the master’s program had four credit-seeking stu-
dents moving into the thesis-writing phase, one going into the second
semester, and two audits. About five prospective students awaited the new
January intake. To say that surviving the pandemic and birthing a
 5 HARNESSING PARTNERSHIPS AND TECHNOLOGY TO ESTABLISH A NEW… 83

postgrad English program on the buckle of the Chinese BRI brought

some level of satisfaction is to state the obvious. But that sense of satisfac-
tion was complex and deserves some critical consideration. What lessons
might one draw?

What Has Gone Well

Challenges caused by the pandemic, along with the university’s responses
to them, have resulted in some positive developments. To begin with,
using online and hybrid courses has had, in some cases, a positive impact
on student enrollment and attendance. Switching to online course deliv-
ery has made it possible for students who may not have been able to com-
mute to the campus for face-to-face lessons to enroll in programs and
attend courses. Some students in the MA in English program, who live
too far from the campus to attend classes face to face (e.g., on offshore
islands), join classes through Zoom. In addition, because we record the
courses on Zoom, students who are busy or have unreliable internet con-
nections have the option of watching recordings of classes and completing
course assignments in Canvas, an LMS.
The option of teaching online has also improved the availability of
course instructors. Instructors can now teach from remote locations,
including other countries. This has enlarged the potential pool of instruc-
tors, and made it possible for instructors to cover for each other when
unable to make it to campus to conduct face-to-face classes.
Online and hybrid teaching have also made it possible to employ a vari-
ety of resources and tools in classes that instructors may not have other-
wise been able or inclined to use in face-to-face classes on campus. These
digital tools, in our opinion, have scaffolded learning and made it more
student-centered, and have elevated levels of student motivation and
engagement. Online tools and materials and mobile-device apps we have
employed include YouTube videos and game and quiz apps. The use of
tools such as Google Apps have also made it possible for synchronous and
asynchronous online students to collaborate on assignments and engage in
peer feedback.
The university’s response to the exigencies caused by the pandemic led
them to adopt the use of LMS. The university currently employs Canvas.
We consider this a positive development because LMSes make course
management, even for face-to-face or hybrid classes, much more conve-
nient. Students can easily find class resources (e.g., presentation slides,
84 J. NG AND P. MANNION

articles) and know when assignments are due. We have also found it con-
venient to create and employ quizzes and exams in Canvas, which students
may take online from their own homes.
To deal with frequent internet and power outages, instructors and stu-
dents have shifted to using mobile phones and mobile phone hotspots to
keep lessons going. Many people own mobile phones in Cambodia and
subscription rates are relatively cheap (Phong et al., 2016). During the
autumn semester in 2022, the university added ethernet cable connections
to the internet in the classrooms we use for MA in English courses, which
has improved the overall quality of internet connections, when that service
is uninterrupted.
The online environment has also enabled students to share their knowl-
edge of educational technology with students and instructors. For exam-
ple, students helped me (Patrick) with Zoom, which I was initially
unfamiliar with using as an instructor. A student also introduced me to
EdPuzzle, an online tool which enables users to embed notes or quizzes
in extant YouTube videos.

What Hasn’t Worked Well

While many improvements occurred as a result of responses to the Covid
pandemic, the university, the English Department, and their faculty and
students faced multiple technology-related challenges.
Some students found adapting to hybrid or online courses to be chal-
lenging. For some, using necessary technology, such as video-­conferencing
platforms (e.g., Zoom), was difficult. I (Patrick) also found using Zoom
for teaching, instead of for learning as a student, to be challenging at first.
However, students more familiar with this type of technology helped their
classmates and me, making classes go smoother.
Other challenges have been related to physical and internet infrastruc-
ture. There have been frequent power and internet outages interrupting
classes. Poor internet connections have led to students and instructors
being unable to understand each other during course meetings. When
internet connections are poor, both students and instructors often resort
to connecting their computers to the internet through their mobile
phones’ hotspots. While internet service interruptions may frequently
occur, mobile phone connection quality tends to remain better. And as
mobile phone service charges are relatively inexpensive in Cambodia
 5 HARNESSING PARTNERSHIPS AND TECHNOLOGY TO ESTABLISH A NEW… 85

(Phong et al. 2016), students and instructors often switch to mobile

phone use instead of using internet connections.
On one occasion, because internet interruptions frequently occurred,
interrupting the class repeatedly, I (Patrick) gave up on conducting the
class synchronously, and recorded a lecture with screen-recording soft-
ware. The various technology-related challenges seemed to be never-­
ending. At a later time, after updating the operating system on his laptop
computer, I (Patrick) discovered I could no longer record audio with that
screen-recording software.

Student and Homework Attrition and Stamina

While still in its first year of existence, a number of students withdrew from
the MA in English program. In addition, submission of student course-
work also steadily decreased as the initial terms progressed. Most of the
students were part-time or full-time teachers, and some explained that
they were busy with their jobs and lacked the time and stamina to attend
classes and complete coursework. These are issues which we still need to
address.

Pedagogical Limitations, Administrative Rigidity, and Class Size

Other challenges with developing a new MA in English Program related
to bureaucratic resistance. Expectations have been to conduct lessons and
assessments in traditional ways, including the use of end-of-term high-­
stakes exams instead of alternative means of assessment, such as ePortfo-
lios, that might have more practical use for students (Lam, 2022). There
has also been institutional preference to continue enrolling students in
cohorts at the start of the school year rather than employing rolling enroll-
ment and admissions throughout the school term, which may help coun-
ter the dwindling number of students in the MA in English program.
However, one student was admitted to the program between cohorts so
there does appear to be some flexibility. Small class sizes during the pan-
demic years at the university have limited the types of learning activities
teachers can conduct. For example, it has been challenging to conduct
anonymous peer review on Canvas and small-group activities because
classes have had as few as three to five students.
86 J. NG AND P. MANNION

Recommendations
In this section, we offer suggestions to other instructors and program
administrators based on what worked and did not work for us.
Instructors who have to deal with poor internet connections in their
universities, such as those at the university, may wish to consider being
prepared to use mobile phones to conduct their classes. For example,
when WiFi or wired connections and LED projections are interrupted, as
happens during blackouts, teachers and students can continue to access
the internet through their mobile phones. When we lost WiFi or LAN
internet connections during classes, we reconnected our computers to the
internet and Zoom with mobile phone hotspots, and students rejoined
our course Zoom meetings with their mobile phones. The mobile phone
plans available in Cambodia are relatively cheap (Phong et al., 2016), and
most, if not all, instructors and students in the MA in English program
have mobile phones. Faculty and students in similar situations may wish to
plan and prepare for using mobile phones when internet connections
become unstable. Being prepared for internet interruptions may help les-
sons go much smoother. With a SIM card and a powerbank in hand and
cell towers functioning, the place of mobile-assisted language learning
(MALL) is unassailable.
From our experiences, preparing students to engage in hybrid or online
courses is important. In hindsight, I (Patrick) believe my classes might
have gone smoother, particularly in the beginning, if I had concentrated
earlier and more on educational technology involved in the courses. In
particular, initial course delivery would have involved fewer interruptions
if the class had been more familiar with Zoom from the beginning.
Programs such as the MA in English program may wish to offer tutorials
to instructors and students on video conferencing tools so that they can
make effective use of them.
The university’s implementation of an LMS in its courses, as a response
to COVID-19, presented challenges. Programs in circumstances similar to
the MA in English may benefit from ensuring both instructors and stu-
dents are familiar with LMS to ensure smooth course delivery. While I
(Patrick) had used my university’s chosen LMS, Canvas (Instructure,
2022), as a student, I had never employed it before as an instructor, and
learning how to use it effectively took time. Training for both instructors
and students in how to employ LMSes may make transitions from face-to-­
face to online or hybrid course delivery smoother.
 5 HARNESSING PARTNERSHIPS AND TECHNOLOGY TO ESTABLISH A NEW… 87

Students more accustomed to face-to-face, or even synchronous, par-

ticipation in courses may also be unfamiliar with expectations regarding
how to participate in online or hybrid courses. Some of our students
lacked knowledge about how to engage with other students (e.g., posting
in discussion threads) and how to submit assignments in Canvas.
Instructors may need to set aside time at the outset of courses to carefully
explain course activities and expectations. Demonstrations of how to
interact with classmates (e.g., write and respond to posts in Discussion
threads), submit assignments, take assessments, and access files stored in
the course page in the LMS may promote student success in online and
hybrid courses.
Implementation of technology for course delivery and course activities
also offers opportunities to adapt alternative approaches to teaching-­
learning and assessment. For example, the use of technology may better
enable programs to employ goal- or product-oriented approaches to learn-
ing and assessment such as Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT)
(Nunan, 2004) and ePortfolios, the latter of which I (Joseph) had experi-
ence with in an adult ESL program for immigrants in Canada. TBLT, or
similar approaches, may help motivate students by engaging them in goal-­
oriented learning activities. Students in programs similar to the universi-
ty’s MA in English may benefit professionally by developing an ePortfolio
stocked with practical and useful items such as lesson plans, curriculums,
papers, research projects, CVs, cover letters, and demonstrations of com-
petence with languages or language education (e.g., videos of themselves
communicating in target languages or teaching target languages).

Conclusion
The tumultuous changes in Sihanoukville over the last few years should
have tanked a university English Department, but the advent of technol-
ogy and availability of support networks saved it. The introduction of
Chinese investment and construction (Alfram, 2020; Horton, 2020) and
the impact of COVID-19 (World Health Organization, 2022) drove
expatriate teachers back to their own countries and threatened to stymie
students’ educational prospects. Against this background, the university’s
English Department took steps to exploit technology to address student
enrollment, instructor availability, and course delivery. While administra-
tors, faculty, and students have negotiated some challenges (e.g., imple-
mentation of LMS to increase enrollment and class attendance), others
88 J. NG AND P. MANNION

have been more difficult to overcome (e.g., student unfamiliarity with

LMS or expectations in hybrid courses). Stakeholder responses to these
challenges have resulted in some positive outcomes. Faculty, students, and
administrators became more familiar with technology as they negotiated
the demands of conducting classes in digital environments. Implementing
face-to-face, online and hybrid course delivery, including the option of
watching recorded lessons, made it possible for busy students who were
unable to attend classes to enroll in the MA in English program. The use
of digital tools had the added bonus of improving student motivation and
engagement. Challenges more difficult to overcome have included infra-
structure issues (e.g., internet and power interruptions), net drops in stu-
dent enrollment, and student unfamiliarity with hybrid lesson delivery.
From our experiences, we recommend that instructors and administrators
in similar situations anticipate and take proactive measures regarding
potential infrastructure issues (e.g., being prepared to seamlessly switch to
mobile phone use during classes when internet interruptions occur), pre-
paring instructors and students to engage in online and hybrid course
delivery (e.g., increasing familiarity with LMS), developing students’
understandings of how to engage in online course activities (e.g., partici-
pating in discussions and submitting assignments in LMSes), and consid-
ering alternative approaches to teaching-learning activities and assessment
(e.g., Task-Based Learning, use of ePortfolios instead of high-stakes learn-
ing). Because programs in similar situations may find it challenging to
overcome all challenges resulting from the pandemic and exacerbated by
infrastructure and budgetary constraints, employing locally available
resources (e.g., cheap mobile phone service), harnessing existing and
emerging partnerships and opportunities, and adapting approaches to
education and assessment may help overcome the often catastrophic geo-
political developments on their doorstep.

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 PART II

Materials Development and Teaching

Methodology
 CHAPTER 6

A Culturally and Linguistically Responsive

Approach to Materials Development:
Teaching Vietnamese as a Second Language
to Ethnic Minority Primary School Students

Thao Phuong Do, Hoa Do, and Linh Phung

Impetus for Innovation

As a linguistically heterogeneous country with 54 ethnic groups speaking
approximately 100 minority languages alongside Vietnamese, the official
national language of the country, the teaching of Vietnamese to ethnic
minority primary school-aged students in remote and mountainous areas

T. P. Do (*)
Faculty of Vietnamese Studies, Hanoi National University of Education,
Hanoi, Vietnam
e-mail: thaodp@hnue.edu.vn
H. Do
Department of Languages and Cultures, La Trobe University,
Melbourne, VIC, Australia
e-mail: thixuanhoa.do@latrobe.edu.au

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 93

Switzerland AG 2024
L. Phung et al. (eds.), Innovation in Language Learning and
Teaching, New Language Learning and Teaching Environments,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46080-7_6
94 T. P. DO ET AL.

have always been a topic of concern in the country’s modern language

policy (Nguyen & Nguyen, 2019; Phan et al., 2014). In line with the
implementation of the “one curriculum, many textbooks” approach in the
education system in Vietnam, a number of textbook sets to teach
Vietnamese to primary school students have been designed. The majority
of them were designed to teach Vietnamese as a first language (L1) and do
not include contents and activities relevant to the students’ daily life and
experiences, a factor contributing to the poor performance of ethnic
minority students in acquiring Vietnamese (Thanh, 2010).
The past few years have witnessed a number of programs and projects
piloting bilingual education and new approaches to teaching Vietnamese
as an L2 to ethnic minority primary school-aged students. Some of the
most prominent ones include the School Education Quality Assurance
Program (SEQAP) running from 2010 to 2016 (Ngo, 2016), the
Improving Care and Education Quality for Ethnic Minority and
Disadvantaged Children project in Tam Duong district, Lai Chau Province
implemented from 2016 to 2018 (Aide et Action, 2016) and the Mother
Tongue-based Bilingual Education (MTBBE) conducted from 2008 to
2015 (Nguyen & Nguyen, 2019). These projects have produced positive
outcomes including heightening parents’ and students’ awareness of the
importance of bilingualism, improving teachers’ pedagogical practices,
running extracurricular activities focusing on ethnic minority children’s
customs and traditions, developing bilingual materials, and extending class
time for Vietnamese (Nguyen & Nguyen, 2019; Phan et al., 2014; Tran,
2016). However, these one-off projects target broader educational aims,
rather than focusing on developing Vietnamese language abilities of this
population. They are also not easy to be replicated on a big scale given the
complex linguistic and geographic context in Vietnam where more than
one minority language is spoken in an area. The shortage of competent
bilingual teachers and the absence of a systematic bilingual teacher educa-
tion and training program in the country makes it even harder to

L. Phung
Eduling International, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
 6 A CULTURALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY RESPONSIVE APPROACH… 95

implement such initiatives nationwide. These challenges are likely to

require much time and effort to be adequately addressed.
In addition, to ethnic minority students, Vietnamese is neither their
mother tongue nor a foreign language, but a second language (L2). This
means the approach to curriculum design and instruction to teach
Vietnamese to this group of learners should be informed by the literature
on second language acquisition. Ethnic minority students have their own
cultural capital and linguistic resources in their L1 which bears some simi-
larities and differences with the L2 and can be helpful for their L2 acquisi-
tion (Anderson, 2018). In developing curricula and learning materials for
this group of learners, their specific needs and learning environment
should be thoroughly analyzed, and their educational, social, cultural and
linguistic background should be taken into account (Morgan & Houghton,
2011 as cited in Hector-Alexander, 2019; Nation & Macalister, 2009).
Sobel (2011) emphasizes that teachers need to “teach like their students’
lives really do matter” (p. 3) as learning and teaching in general and lan-
guage education in particular is directly impacted by cultural and linguistic
factors. The argument is specially relevant to schools in rural areas where
access to technology is limited and students are diverse in their cultural
and linguistic background (Curtis, 2021; Kumi-Yeboah et al., 2021).
Therefore, adopting a culturally and linguistically responsive approach to
material development and pedagogy can be an answer to improving the
teaching of Vietnamese to ethnic minority students.
This chapter reports on a material development project that incorpo-
rates a culturally and linguistically responsive approach to materials devel-
opment to teach Vietnamese as a second language to ethnic minority
students for the time being. The chapter continues with an overview of
culturally and linguistically responsive material development in second
language education of minority students. It will then problematize teach-
ing Vietnamese as an L2 to ethnic minority students in Vietnam to set the
scene for a report on the development and implementation of Vietnamese
practice book for Grade 5 ethnic minority students.
96 T. P. DO ET AL.

Culturally and Linguistically Responsive

Materials Development
Culturally and linguistically responsive pedagogy has garnered attention in
the field of education and second/foreign language acquisition in recent
decades, particularly in such migration countries as the USA, the UK,
Australia and Canada where students of diverse cultural, religious, linguis-
tic, and ethnic backgrounds and life experiences gather in one classroom
(Sobel, 2011). The pedagogy highlights the importance of valuing and
utilizing cultural and linguistic backgrounds of minority students and lan-
guage learners and their prior knowledge to create an inclusive and sup-
portive learning environment for their literacy and language acquisition
(Gay, 2010; Hollie, 2018; Lucas & Villegas, 2013). In practicing cultur-
ally responsive teaching, it is crucial that teachers know their students and
how they acquire knowledge in order to plan for and deliver effective les-
sons and assess and provide meaningful feedback for their learning (Wallace
& Campbell, 2014). They further argue that to support culturally and
linguistically diverse students in learning English as a second or an addi-
tional language and the medium of instruction, schools and teachers must
ensure a culturally inclusive curriculum, support in and for L1, an aware-
ness that literacy skills in L1 transfer to English, scaffolding for zone of
proximal development, and interaction in English in social and academic
contexts. The same argument can be applied in the case of teaching
Vietnamese as a second language to ethnic minority students in Vietnam
where support in and for the students’ L1 would facilitate their acquisition
of Vietnamese.
Lee et al. (2007) list seven common practices that culturally responsive
teachers should execute, three of which directly involves optimizing stu-
dents’ prior knowledge and lived experiences, delivering culturally and
linguistically meaningful and relevant instruction, and integrating local
knowledge, language, and culture into the curriculum. Siwatu (2007)
proposes four areas where teachers can apply culturally responsive teach-
ing including curriculum and instruction, classroom management, stu-
dent assessment and cultural enrichment, the focus of which is utilizing
students’ cultural experiences and background knowledge to create a cul-
turally safe, compatible and supportive learning environment. In the same
vein, Gay (2002, 2010) outlines five aspects of preparing teachers for cul-
turally responsive teaching: forming a cultural diversity knowledge base,
designing culturally relevant curricula, demonstrating cultural caring and
 6 A CULTURALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY RESPONSIVE APPROACH… 97

a learning community, cross-cultural communication, and delivering

instructions that promote cultural congruity. Regarding materials devel-
opment specifically, Gay (2002, 2010) confirms that it is first and foremost
important for teachers to know about their ethnic minority students’ cul-
tural values, relational patterns, learning styles and traditions to form a
knowledge base for their culturally responsive teaching since this kind of
knowledge and awareness exerts a direct influence on teaching and learn-
ing. Translating the knowledge base into instructional materials then
requires a thorough analysis of the “quantity, quantity, accuracy, complex-
ity, placement, purpose, variety, significance, and authenticity of the narra-
tive texts, visual illustrations, learning activities, role models, and authorial
sources” in the materials (p. 108). In their book on bilingual education,
Johnson and Swain (1997) persuasively argue that a culturally and linguis-
tically responsive approach to materials development can promote lan-
guage learning by providing students with opportunities to use language
in a meaningful way. They state that by incorporating authentic materials
and relevant real-life situations and contexts, teachers can help make the
language more authentic and useful for students. This develops students’
language learning and intercultural competence at the same time.
Informed by culturally and linguistically responsive pedagogy, this
chapter contributes to the scarce literature on the application of culturally
and linguistically responsive materials development in teaching Vietnamese,
a less studied language, in an understudied context.

Teaching Vietnamese as an L2 to Ethnic

Minority Students
As stipulated in the Vietnam Education Law, the Vietnamese language is
both a compulsory subject and the official medium of instruction across
the country at all levels (Socialist Republic of Vietnam, 2005). To ethnic
minority students whose first language is not Vietnamese, the load of
learning Vietnamese as a second language and using it to acquire knowl-
edge in other subjects puts them at a disadvantage, which partially explains
the high dropout rate among this group of learners (Kosonen, 2006;
Tran, 2020). The teaching of the language itself has been found to be
insufficient in developing students’ four language skills, including listen-
ing, speaking, reading, and writing, which suggests much room for
improvement (Do, 2018). In fact, with a focus on reading and writing
98 T. P. DO ET AL.

skills, students’ communicative abilities in Vietnamese have generally been

neglected. In addition, currently there are two curricula for teaching the
Vietnamese language to primary school-aged students in Vietnam: Version
2006 and Version 2018, both of which were designed to teach Vietnamese
as a L1. In both curricula, these materials are not familiar to ethnic minor-
ity students who are not the majority Vietnamese-speaking Kinh group
and whose mother tongue is not Vietnamese. The lack of culturally and
linguistically relevant materials in the curriculum for ethnic minority stu-
dents is striking and requires change and innovation in this area.
In addition, when the materials and teaching approaches do not con-
sider the learning needs of ethnic minority students from a second lan-
guage acquisition (SLA) perspective, these students are placed into a
“swim or sink” situation without adequate support to develop their
Vietnamese literacy and competence. Although first language and second
language acquisition shares some similarities in the developmental
sequences (stages that learners go through as they acquire a new language)
and acquisition order of grammatical structures (Ellis, 1994; Larsen-­
Freeman, 1976; Pienemann, 1995, 2007), they differ in not only cogni-
tive and affective processes that are involved but also socio-cultural factors
that affect their learning process (Ellis, 1994; Krashen, 1985). Specifically,
learners need rich, meaningful, comprehensible input; opportunities to
produce meaningful output; and opportunities for interaction and nego-
tiation of meaning; and corrective feedback, among other factors, to
develop their competence in the second language (Krashen, 1985; Long,
1996; Lyster, 2018; Swain, 1993). In addition, in the classroom, teachers
need to be able to scaffold students’ learning within their zone of proximal
development through different instructional techniques including the
integration of students’ first language and culture in their lessons and as a
resource in their students’ learning process. In fact, the practice of using
one language (i.e., the L1) in order to reinforce the other also known as
“translanguaging” in education has gained support in bilingual and for-
eign language education in recent years (Baker, 2001). Therefore, using
materials designed for the majority group and teaching Vietnamese with-
out making adequate use of students’ L1 does not provide optimal condi-
tions for ethnic minority students’ language and literacy development.
In fact, Do’s (2018) project with 100 teachers at eight primary schools
in Son La, Dien Bien, Dak Lak and Kien Giang, four economically disad-
vantaged provinces in Vietnam found that 88% of the teachers reported
primarily using the conventional approach in teaching Vietnamese and the
 6 A CULTURALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY RESPONSIVE APPROACH… 99

majority used the students’ L1 only for classroom management as well as

comprehension and explanation of the most challenging vocabulary. The
teachers justified their modest use of their students’ L1 by claiming that an
overuse of the students’ mother tongue would hinder their acquisition of
Vietnamese. This belief is what Clyne (2005) terms “a monolingual mind-
set” where a single dominant societal language is favored, resulting in
other minority languages being undervalued. It can be inferred that with
their monolingual mindset, the teachers were less likely to make use of
their students’ cultural and linguistic resources that could have been of
help in their language lessons. Do’s (2018) findings brought to light the
teachers’ monolingual mindset and their misconceptions about the rela-
tionship between the L1 and L2 in second language acquisition, both of
which directly dictate their classroom practice and influence their students’
learning and progress.
Recognizing the need for culturally and linguistically responsive mate-
rials to teach Vietnamese as a second language to ethnic minority students,
the first author of this chapter developed a Vietnamese Practice Book for
Grade 5 to accompany Vietnamese for Grade 5 from the Ministry of
Education. The next section of this chapter reports on this innovation by
discussing the steps to develop and implement the textbook set with a
reflection on challenges and recommendations for similar projects.

The Innovation
The Vietnamese Practice Book for Grade 5 was developed by the first
author of this chapter as a result of a large-scale research project from the
Vietnamese Ministry of Education to investigate methods of teaching
Vietnamese as a second language for ethnic minority primary students in
Vietnam. This project was led by the first author and implemented from
May 2015 to December 2017 under the administration of Hanoi National
University of Education. The project was conducted in eight primary
schools in four provinces in regions with a population of ethnic minority
students. In the Northwest region, Son La and Dien Bien provinces are
home to students of the Thái, H’mông, Mư ờ ng, Dao, Khơ Mú, Tày,
Giáy, Hà Nhì, Lao, Cống, and Si La group. There are many students of
̵ M’nông, Nùng, Tày, Thái, and Dao group in Dak lak Province
the Ê-dê,
in the Central Highlands region. Kien Giang Province in the Mekong
River Delta region is known to have students of the Khmer and
Chinese group.
100 T. P. DO ET AL.

The overall project goal is to conduct exploratory research and suggest

models on teaching Vietnamese as a second language for ethnic minorities
primary students. Specific objectives include (1) set up the scientific and
practical basis of teaching Vietnamese as a second language for ethnic
minority students; (2) establish the standards for language skills and com-
petencies that need to be developed for ethnic minority pupils at primary
level; (3) set up the teaching process and teaching methods of Vietnamese
as a second language; (4) experiment on methods of teaching Vietnamese
as a second language for ethnic minority pupils at primary level; and (5)
suggest the methodology for teaching Vietnamese language as a second
language for ethnic minority pupils at primary level (including a system of
methods, specific measures of each method and criteria for the develop-
ment of language teaching products that are modern and consistent with
the proposed methodology).
Apart from findings reported in Do (2018), one of the outcomes of
this project was a set of textbooks for teaching Vietnamese as a second
language to ethnic minority primary students. The first textbook that the
first author and her project team developed was titled Thực hành tiếng
Viêt lớ p 5 or Vietnamese Practice Book for Grade 5. The reason why the
authors chose to develop this book first is that Grade 5 is the last year in
primary school when students’ abilities to use Vietnamese in the four skills
(listening, speaking, reading, and writing) are the highest. This made the
selection of materials easier.
The next section will report the materials development process with the
focus on selecting culturally and linguistically responsive materials suitable
to teach Vietnamese as a second language to ethnic minority primary stu-
dents in Vietnam.

Materials Development Process

These are the stages we followed in the project.
First, we clarified the users and goals of the project. Overall, the main
goal is to develop materials to teach Vietnamese as an L2 to ethnic minor-
ity primary students. The users would be teachers and students in this
context. The materials follow the “Tiếng Viêt” (or Vietnamese) curricu-
lum for primary schools from the Ministry of Education and Training
(MOET). The general objectives of these materials include:
 6 A CULTURALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY RESPONSIVE APPROACH… 101

• To consolidate knowledge covered in the Vietnamese textbook for

primary students and enlarge students’ vocabulary, grammatical
resources, and socio-cultural knowledge through more relevant
materials that reflect societal changes, Vietnamese culture, and
minority cultures. These new materials aim to better relate to the
teaching and learning situations in the mountainous and remote
areas of Vietnam.
• To put into practice principles and methods of teaching Vietnamese
as an L2 with specific teaching techniques, instructional activities,
and learning materials to develop students’ four language skills, that
is, listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

In the second stage, we examined the national curricular guidelines for

Vietnamese for primary students from the Ministry of Education pub-
lished in 2018. In addition, we reviewed the standards for all students as
well as for minority students at each grade level.
In the third stage, we researched the available materials, which include
three sets of textbooks published by the MOET, textbook sets developed
for ethnic minority students that had been published, and multimodal
materials (texts, images, and video clips) related to ethnic cultures.
In the fourth stage, we developed materials for Grade 5 with an overall
emphasis on using students’ L1 resources to facilitate L2 development.
This process has several steps including the development of 35 units for a
school year. Each unit develops students’ vocabulary, grammar, and
knowledge about culture and society around themes already covered in
the Vietnamese 5 textbook. Another step in the materials development
process was the design of each lesson, which includes selecting reading
texts and illustrations suitable for the Vietnamese proficiency level of the
target learners and developing practice activities to address the four lan-
guage skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Notably, the texts
selected reflect the Vietnamese national values, culture, and characters as
well as the cultures of ethnic minority groups in Vietnam. In addition, we
adapted the texts to ensure that they are comprehensible and beneficial for
the development of Vietnamese as a second language. Specifically, we
shortened the text to 200–300 words. We also ensured that the vocabu-
lary in the text is familiar or has been taught to the students and the text
includes target vocabulary items and grammatical structures. Moreover,
we included culturally relevant illustrations and examples from the stu-
dents’ first languages.
102 T. P. DO ET AL.

Activities to develop students’ vocabulary and grammar consist of those

aiming to expand students’ vocabulary knowledge and use in context.
Students also learn to form sentences to meet communicative objectives in
various situations. Speaking activities include those associated with real-­
life situations as well as topics related to Vietnamese culture, society, and
values. Furthermore, writing activities aim to develop students’ abilities to
write paragraphs and common genres. Finally, each unit also consists of
suggestions to students on how to approach difficult tasks.

Incorporating Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Materials

The most innovative aspect of this project is the inclusion of language
input and activities from the students’ language and culture. This is one of
the most important features of culturally and linguistically responsive
teaching (Gay, 2010; Lee et al., 2007). For example, to develop materials
to teach students idioms and proverbs in Vietnamese, we researched the
similarities and differences between those used in Vietnamese and in the
Tày-Thái language, including 465 proverbs about animals in the former
and 289 in the latter. A difference includes more frequent reference to
animals in the lowland in Vietnamese in comparison to reference to
animals common in the mountainous living conditions in Tày-Thái (Le
et al., 2018). Therefore, there are certain animals that only appear in
Vietnamese idioms, such as animals from the coastal plain region, and oth-
ers that only appear in Tày-Thái idioms. Even when an animal like the
buffalo is common in both languages, each notices different dominant
characteristics. Vietnamese sees the buffalo as strong and voracious in such
idioms as “khỏe như trâu” (as strong as a buffalo) or “ăn như trâu” (eat
like a buffalo) while Tày-Thái notices the buffalo’s inability to make
sounds and its big size in such idioms as “vài kin lin” (trâu ăn lư ỡi in
Vietnamese or tongue-tied buffalo) and “vài cải khı ̉ cải” (trâu to phân to
in Vietnamese or big buffalo, big poop). Similarly, the two languages use
different animals to describe different phenomena, such as “ngu như lợn”
(as stupid as a pig) in Vietnamese and dă̵ m bặng bê ̉ bot (tối như dê mù in
Vietnamese or as dull as a blind goat) in Tày-Thái. It is natural that each
ethnic group thinks about the world through objects and phenomena
observable in their environment. The lenses through which they look at
the world are different.
In our materials, we purposefully include idioms with animal names
common in the students’ L1 to make the materials more relevant and
 6 A CULTURALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY RESPONSIVE APPROACH… 103

comprehensible to the students, thus facilitating the development of

Vietnamese. We also ask students to compare Vietnamese idioms with
those in their mother tongue by asking such questions as:

• Are there similar idioms in your language?

• When talking about buffaloes, what characteristics do you notice?
Share some idioms from your language that refer to buffaloes.
• When talking about someone strong/ weak/ fast/ slow … what
animal do you compare him/ her with in your language? What ani-
mal is used in Vietnamese?

These comparisons do not only develop students’ awareness of cultural

differences but also help them to better acquire the Vietnamese language
through relatable content.
Another example of the development of culturally and linguistically
inclusive materials in our project can be seen in the practice activity in
Table 6.1. Students are asked to match the proverb in Column A with a
cultural value in Column B. The proverbs chosen come from various lan-
guages and ethnic groups, including Vân Kiêu ̀ and Thái, not only from the
Kinh group.
In addition, our materials include role models and historical figures
from ethnic minority groups (e.g., Kim Đồng and Vừ A Dính—see the
illustration below), cultural practices from various groups (e.g., brocade
weaving as seen in the photo below, drum festival in Quảng Bình, and rice
harvest festival in Sa Pa), and distinctive sceneries from the mountainous
regions (peach blossoms in the northwest and kơ -nia trees in the Central
Highlands area).
These familiar materials will help students better comprehend and con-
nect with the content of their Vietnamese lessons.
Finally, in our teacher guide, we encourage teachers to incorporate stu-
dents’ language and culture by decorating with words and images from
both languages and students’ works. This way, the students will feel they
are seen and their culture is appreciated.

Piloting the Materials

After the materials were developed and printed, we piloted them by having
100 teachers teaching 10 units to 400 fifth graders in the 8 schools from
September 2016 to May 2017. The ten units covered similar main themes
104 T. P. DO ET AL.

Table 6.1 Example practice activity

A B

1. Tôn sư trong da̵ o

Nhà rông, lòng chât ta dừ ̵ ng thèm dê̵ ́n. (Respect for teachers)
Nhà chât, lòng rông ta muốn lai chơ i.
A big house with a small heart—I don’t want to visit.
A small house with a big heart—I do want to see.
(Vân Kiêu ̀ folksong)
2. b. Cần cù lao dô̵ ng
Năng nhặt chặt bi. (Diligence)
More saving, fuller sack.
Kiến tha lâu có ngày dâ̵ ̀y tổ.
Patient ants, full nests.
(Kinh proverb)
3. c. Trong tình nghı ̃a
Uống nư ớ c phải xem nguồn. (Appreciation of
Know the source of the water you drink. kindness)
(Kinh proverb)
Lên dốc phải xem hư ớ ng.
Know the direction while climbing up hill.
(Thái proverb)
Ă n quả nhớ kẻ trồng cây.
Remember the one planting the tree when you eat the fruit.
(Kinh proverb)
4. d. Nhớ ơ n nguồn côi
Môt chữ cũng là thầy, nửa chữ cũng là thầy. (Respect for our roots)
One word is thanks to your teacher. Half a word is also thanks to
your teacher.
(Kinh proverb)
Biết chữ biết moi viêc.
Biết nghı ̃a biết thành ngư ờ i.
Knowing words is having knowledge.
Showing gratitude is having humanity.
(Thái proverb)
 6 A CULTURALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY RESPONSIVE APPROACH… 105

Vù A Dính—A young hero of the H’mông group

A Black Thái woman weaving brocade. (Photo taken from http://tpdienbien-

phu.gov.vn)
106 T. P. DO ET AL.

and topics to those in the official curriculum which was developed by

MOET and was currently used nationwide. Each unit in the set was taught
in one to two periods of 35 minutes.
We collected feedback from 100 teachers who used the materials in
their classes and observed lessons in which the new materials were used to
evaluate the effectiveness of the materials. After teaching the ten units,
participating teachers completed a questionnaire to assess whether they
thought the materials met five criteria (i.e., being relevant, contemporary,
pedagogically sound, interactive, and systematic) in developing students’
knowledge and skills in four areas: pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar,
and communication. They gave a 0 for “not satisfactory” or 1 for “satis-
factory.” Table 6.2 shows the percentages of teachers selecting 1.
As can be seen, the majority of the teachers (ranging from 69 to 88%)
evaluated the materials as meeting the five criteria outlined in the survey
in the four areas. This reflects a positive response to the materials.
In addition, we also surveyed teachers for their opinions on the neces-
sity and feasibility of using these materials to teach Vietnamese to ethnic
minority students. The results of this survey are shown in Tables 6.3
and 6.4.

Table 6.2 Percentage of teachers rating the materials as meeting criteria

Pronunciation Vocabulary Grammar Communication

Relevant 75 76 74 69
Contemporary 80 86 76 88
Pedagogically sound 82 86 80 81
Interactive 83 84 76 87
Systematic 73 77 88 76

Table 6.3 The necessity of the materials

No Location Response (Percentage)

Necessary Neutral Not necessary

1. Điên Biên 88 11 1
2. Sơ n La 77 21 2
3. Đăḱ Lăḱ 69 26 5
4. Kiên Giang 90 10 0

Average 81 17 2
 6 A CULTURALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY RESPONSIVE APPROACH… 107

Table 6.4 Feasibility of materials use

No Location Response (%)

Feasible Neutral Not feasible

1. Điên Biên 86 13 1
2. Sơ n La 87 11 2
3. Đăḱ Lăḱ 79 15 6
4. Kiên Giang 91 7 2

Average 85.75 11.5 2.75

The table shows that the vast majority of teachers (69 to 90% with an
average of 81% for the four provinces) agreed that the materials were nec-
essary for the development of Vietnamese to ethnic minority students in
their context with only 2% rating them as not necessary.
As can be seen, an average of 85.75% teachers rated the materials as
feasible, 11.5% were neutral, and only 2.75% rated them as not feasible to
use in their context. Together with Table 6.3, these data show that the
teachers saw these materials as necessary and feasible to implement to
develop their students’ Vietnamese knowledge and skills.
In their response to open-ended questions in the questionnaire, the
teachers added more specific feedback on the materials. While they
thought highly of and were interested in developing culturally and linguis-
tically responsive materials, they admitted having a low level of proficiency
in their students’ mother tongue, making it challenging for them to pro-
vide support in the student’s L1. One solution to this problem, they sug-
gested, was to get community members and parents involved in the
development of the learning materials. They could help proofread culture-­
specific contents and provide classroom language in the L1 so that teach-
ers would have a handy L1 toolkit to support their students. This suggests
the teachers’ newly gained perspective and enthusiasm in further innova-
tion in this area.

Discussion
Adopting a culturally and linguistically responsive approach to design
learning materials to teach Vietnamese as an L2 to primary school stu-
dents from ethnic minority groups was an innovation to improve the
learning outcomes of ethnic minority primary students in Vietnam. The
108 T. P. DO ET AL.

main textbooks were developed for the majority Vietnamese-speaking

Kinh group, which are not really suitable to develop Vietnamese as an L2
as far as the content and teaching methodology are concerned. The mate-
rials reported in this project address minority students’ specific linguistic
and cultural backgrounds as well as learning needs. We intentionally
included contents closely related to and representative of the students’
cultural practices and values. The inclusion of idioms and proverbs in the
students’ culture as well as images of local heroes and sceneries rather than
widely used illustrations of those of the Kinh group was underpinned by
Gay’s (2010) guidelines in developing formal culturally relevant curricula.
Another strength of the materials is the design of guiding questions that
elicit students’ prior knowledge and draw their attention to differences in
perception in different languages. This helps learners understand the
meaning and usage of Vietnamese and differentiate the similarities and
differences with their mother tongue. By doing this not only can students
acquire Vietnamese but they can also construct knowledge about the rela-
tionship between knowledge construction and languages, which height-
ens their awareness of the power of language learning and multilingualism.
This approach, therefore, has the potential to support the retention and
development of the students’ mother tongue when it is not the dominant
societal language.
In addition, teaching Vietnamese as an L2 requires an understanding of
the process of second language acquisition (SLA), which is different from
first language acquisition (Ellis, 1994), and a different instructional
approach which takes into account principles of L2 development. Our
materials started to address these principles by making texts comprehen-
sible to students as well as providing students opportunities to produce
meaningful output through writing and speaking activities. The pilot
implementation of the textbook changed the participating teachers’ mind-
set and perspective as they started to view and treat the teaching of
Vietnamese to this group differently. The teachers’ assessment of the
materials and changes in instructional practices as satisfactory, necessary,
and feasible suggested that we were moving in the right direction in meet-
ing the students and teachers’ needs but further progress was needed.
Apart from these successes, we acknowledge some limitations in our
materials and challenges during the project. First, while we aimed to
include multimodal contents to include videos and audios, we could only
incorporate visual and textual materials, which limited the students’
opportunities to be exposed to rich aural input. Secondly, we could only
 6 A CULTURALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY RESPONSIVE APPROACH… 109

focus on Tày-Thái and were not able to design more inclusive materials
representing more ethnic minority groups due to the scant availability of
materials on the internet and libraries. Finally, our relatively limited com-
mand of ethnic minority languages prevented us from generating bilingual
texts or glossaries to further support students and teachers.
With this reflection, we recommend further work in this area.
Specifically, we recommend having materials that aim to cover more ethnic
minority groups and languages by considering their linguistic backgrounds
and cultures. While more needs to be done to improve the instructional
practice and learning outcomes, offering culturally and linguistically mate-
rials that take into account principles of second language development is
the starting point in making lasting changes.
Together with a set of suitable materials, it is important to continue to
innovate the teaching of Vietnamese to ethnic minority primary students
through approaches that are suitable for teaching Vietnamese as a second
language. There has already been an extensive body of literature in foreign
and second language education that future innovation can draw from.
While basic literacy in Vietnamese, such as spelling, phonics, and reading,
is important, meaning-based and communicative approaches, such as
content-­ based instruction (CBI) and task-based language teaching
(TBLT) may be applied to develop the learners’ social and academic lan-
guage to facilitate meaningful integration of ethnic minority groups into
the larger society.
The innovation of the teaching materials also requires the moderniza-
tion of teaching facilities and resources. Ethnic minority students have
little exposure to Vietnamese. Therefore, apart from textbooks, students
need to have access to supplemental materials, reference books, audiovi-
sual materials, and technologies for more learning opportunities. They
need to also be diverse, inclusive, and culturally relevant to the students.
For example, these materials should be of different genres with topics that
reflect the lands, people, and cultures of different ethnic groups. Works
from authors that have written about ethnic groups (e.g., Tô Hoài, Hoc
Phi, Ma Văn Kháng) as well as minority authors (e.g., Vư ơ ng Trong,
Nông Quốc Chấn, Lò Ngân Sủn) should be made available to the stu-
dents. By reading their works, they will see themselves and their cultures
being reflected and appreciated, which can be a source of motivation to
learn Vietnamese, master the language, and integrate into the wider soci-
ety. Bilingual materials can also be a valuable source for the development
of multilingual abilities.
110 T. P. DO ET AL.

Professional development for teachers is an important component in

implementing any innovation. Teaching Vietnamese as a second language
using contemporary approaches (e.g., CBI and TBLT) and culturally and
linguistically responsive materials and pedagogies can be a topic of training
workshops organized by the Ministry of Education. Through these work-
shops, teachers also have the opportunities to share experiences, ideas, and
requests to relevant ministries and departments to effect meaningful and
positive changes in the educational outcomes of their students.
Finally, primary schools in ethnic minority areas may implement pro-
grams to develop teachers’ ability to use the mother tongue of ethnic
minority students so that they can use it effectively in their teaching.
Recruitment of teachers who are bilingual and engaging teachers in the
materials development process itself can also be a fruitful endeavor. Since
the majority of ethnic minority students have limited proficiency in
Vietnamese, learning with teachers who can use their mother tongue will
support the teaching and learning process. This can be a move toward
bilingual and multilingual education options for ethnic minority students
in the country.

Conclusion
This chapter reports an innovation in teaching Vietnamese to ethnic
minority primary students in Vietnam. Specifically, the innovation involves
the development and piloting of a Vietnamese practice book for Grade 5.
Guided by the goals of developing pedagogically sound materials to facili-
tate students’ acquisition of Vietnamese as an L2, we adopted a culturally
and linguistically responsive approach to designing our materials. In devel-
oping the package, materials including texts and illustrations were adapted
and selected to both represent the students’ cultural values and practices
and to facilitate their target language learning through their prior knowl-
edge and mother tongue. The book includes examples of culturally and
linguistically relevant visual illustrations, role models, texts and learning
activities and received positive initial feedback from the teachers.
After piloting the materials, analyzing the teacher participants’ feed-
back, and reflecting on the project, we suggest that further work be done
in this area so that more and richer materials that cater to all ethnic minor-
ity groups are available to the teachers and students. The specific recom-
mendations we put forward will start to fill the gaps in the instruction of
Vietnamese to linguistically diverse learners in Vietnam and improve the
learning outcomes of these learners.
 6 A CULTURALLY AND LINGUISTICALLY RESPONSIVE APPROACH… 111

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 CHAPTER 7

Pronunciation Teaching Innovation

in the English as a Foreign Language
Classroom

Loc Tan Nguyen

Background Information
Pronunciation plays a fundamental role in assuring mutual understanding
between the speaker and the hearer in oral communication (Derwing,
2018; Foote & Trofimovich, 2018). In second/foreign language (L2)
learning, learners who are incompetent in language use usually experience
misunderstandings and/or breakdowns in both oral and written commu-
nication (Pennington & Rogerson-Revell, 2019). In the long run, such
learners will be disheartened and lose their confidence and willingness to
communicate in the target language. This is worrying because L2 learners
need to be able to use the target language effectively for communication,
both oral and written, in order to learn lesson contents and, for many

L. T. Nguyen (*)
University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City (UEH),
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
e-mail: loc.nguyen@ueh.edu.vn

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 115

Switzerland AG 2024
L. Phung et al. (eds.), Innovation in Language Learning and
Teaching, New Language Learning and Teaching Environments,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46080-7_7
116 L. T. NGUYEN

others, to continue their education in English-speaking countries.

Thomson and Derwing (2015) argue that learners with pronunciation
problems are less likely to be properly understood in oral communication,
no matter how excellent their lexical and grammatical knowledge is. In
support of such an argument, Derwing and Munro (2015) and Pennington
and Rogerson-Revell (2019) have presented research evidence showing
that mispronunciation is one of the main causes of misunderstandings
and/or breakdowns leading to potential discomfort that devalues the
speaker’s efforts in daily conversations. In this regard, a good command of
pronunciation provides grounds for L2 learners’ subsequent development
of oral communication, specifically listening and speaking skills. As such,
helping teachers and learners develop effective teaching and learning strat-
egies to improve learners’ pronunciation and oral communication gener-
ally is of paramount importance.
Communication as the primary focus of language learning posited in
communicative language teaching has led many teachers to try to align
their pronunciation teaching with a communicatively oriented methodol-
ogy (Foote & Trofimovich, 2018). However, research has revealed that
many L2 teachers generally receive little, if any, guidance on how to effec-
tively implement communicative pronunciation teaching (CPT) in their
language classes (Celce-Murcia et al., 2010; Derwing, 2018; Derwing &
Munro, 2015) and have to rely mainly on controlled and semi-controlled
techniques (Baker, 2014; Buss, 2017; Kochem, 2021). This line of inquiry
has also shown pronunciation teaching to be unsystematic and ad hoc,
usually in the form of recasts and/or prompts (Couper, 2017, 2019;
Foote et al., 2016; Wahid & Sulong, 2013) despite growing research evi-
dence on the efficacy of explicit pronunciation teaching on L2 learners’
intelligibility and/or comprehensibility (Camus, 2020; Peltola et al.,
2014; Zhang & Yuan, 2020). The underlying rationale for such instruc-
tional practices is that many teachers lack training and confidence to teach
pronunciation (Bai & Yuan, 2019; Baker, 2014; Couper, 2017; Nguyen
& Burri, 2022). Given this lack of pronunciation pedagogy training,
teachers “may develop some teaching strategies that actually have little or
no value or that may be counterproductive” (Derwing & Munro, 2005,
p. 390). To accommodate this shortcoming, there have been continuous
calls for more professional learning activities to promote L2 teachers’
knowledge and pedagogical skills necessary to teach pronunciation effec-
tively (Brinton, 2018; Derwing & Munro, 2015; Levis, 2018; Murphy,
2014; Nguyen & Newton, 2021).
 7 PRONUNCIATION TEACHING INNOVATION IN THE ENGLISH… 117

Teacher professional learning (TPL) is conceptualized as a job-­

embedded learning activity for teachers to update knowledge, refine
teaching skills, and subsequently transform these into actual teaching,
which in turn improves student learning outcomes (Darling-Hammond
et al., 2017; Diefes-Dux, 2014; Muijs et al., 2014; Timperley, 2011). In
L2 pronunciation teaching, TPL enables teachers to advance their knowl-
edge and pedagogical skills to teach pronunciation confidently and effec-
tively (Derwing, 2018; Derwing & Munro, 2015; Levis, 2018). In a
similar vein, Baker (2014) and Buss (2017) have argued that even a single
course in pronunciation pedagogy can help teachers feel more confident
and become more effective pronunciation instructors. However, there has
been little research evidence on how teachers translate what they have
learned from TPL activities into classroom practices. The research that is
available dispersed across time and space. Burns’ (2006) research was per-
haps the first study to investigate how TPL enhanced ESL teachers’ pro-
nunciation pedagogy. Her research demonstrated that Australia-based
teachers were not well-prepared to teach English pronunciation and
needed more TPL activities. These findings laid the foundation for the
implementation of a TPL package centering on pronunciation pedagogy
at the national level. However, the findings relating to the effects of such
a TPL program were not disseminated. Similarly, Hermans et al. (2017)
investigated the impact of TPL on Dutch EFL teachers’ pronunciation
pedagogy and found that the TPL program enhanced the teachers’ confi-
dence and expertise in teaching English pronunciation.
These studies, though limited in their scopes, have pinpointed the value
of TPL that is focused on pronunciation pedagogy to L2 teachers’ knowl-
edge gains and pronunciation teaching skills. These research findings have
given me the impetus to conduct my doctoral study examining EFL teach-
ers’ pronunciation teaching practices and associating pedagogical beliefs
and subsequently looking at the impact of TPL on the teachers’ develop-
ment of pronunciation pedagogy expertise at a public university in
Vietnam, the context whereby the innovation was carried out.

The Context of Innovation

My doctoral research was a case study which was conducted in two phases
across two consecutive semesters at a Vietnamese public university, one of
the best 300+ universities in Asia, according to QS Asia Rankings 2023.
At the time of the study, the university had 15 training faculties, and the
118 L. T. NGUYEN

School of Foreign Languages (SFL) administered English teaching and

learning. With a workforce of 40 full-time teachers, SFL had classes for
English majors and nonmajors. The teachers all held an MA degree in
TESOL, Applied Linguistics, or Education and had teaching experience
ranging from 5 to 23 years. As statistics showed at the time of data collec-
tion, the university had a total of 16,000 full-time students, 80 of whom
were studying French, 80 were English majors, and the others were
English nonmajors. Most students had been learning English for at least
seven years at secondary schools.
The curriculum for English nonmajors aimed to develop learners’ lis-
tening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. As outlined in the program
objectives, English was a mandatory subject designed with the ultimate
goal of helping students build up their English competence and confi-
dence in oral communication with both native and nonnative English
speakers. The curriculum included 180 45-minute periods divided into
four modules taught in four semesters. Each semester lasted for 11 weeks,
with one class meeting held on a weekly basis. Four units from each of the
two sources of instructional materials, namely Market Leader (a Business
English textbook series) and Practice Books (supplementary materials com-
piled by SFL staff), were covered in each module. The teachers, in imple-
menting the curriculum, reserved the right to decide on what to teach in
class and what to assign as homework and/or self-study. As such, they
were able to adapt materials from other resources for classroom instruc-
tion, providing that they completed all the prescribed tasks on schedule.
In terms of testing and assessment, students’ final scores in each semes-
ter were earned from a mid-term test (30%) and a final exam (70%).
Teachers might opt for an oral or a written test for the mid-term score, but
the final exam was administered on the same day in the form of a written
test for all students. The teachers who decided on an oral mid-term test
typically asked their students to talk about a given topic for several minutes
and then gave a score based on their own intuition of students’ speaking
ability without any conventional scoring criteria being specified. In the
final written exam paper, students were tested on their knowledge of
vocabulary, grammar, reading and listening comprehension, and business
correspondence writing skills. This follows that pronunciation plays a very
minor role in testing and assessment at the university.
In intact classes, the phase 1 study of my doctoral research showed that
pronunciation teaching took place but was restricted to recasts and/or
prompts in response to students’ pronunciation errors and that the teacher
 7 PRONUNCIATION TEACHING INNOVATION IN THE ENGLISH… 119

participants (six volunteers, given the pseudonyms Quynh, Phuong, Diep,

Nguyen, Khoa, Na) were insufficiently trained to teach English pronun-
ciation (Nguyen & Newton, 2020). The phase 1 study further revealed
that students held a negative view on the way the teachers addressed pro-
nunciation in class and expressed a strong desire for CPT that can pro-
mote their pronunciation and oral communication in general (Nguyen,
2019). These findings provided grounds for the phase 2 study examining
how TPL enhanced the teachers’ knowledge gains and pronunciation
teaching skills. The following section portrays the procedures in which the
innovation on pronunciation teaching was implemented within a period of
three months.

The Innovation
Given the teacher participants’ lack of pronunciation pedagogy expertise
and the students’ consistent need for pronunciation instruction to include
more communicative activities (Nguyen, 2019; Nguyen & Newton,
2020), an intervention was carried out in phase 2 of my doctoral research
to innovate pronunciation teaching within the Vietnamese tertiary EFL
classroom. The design of this intervention emerged from the phase 1 data
and the principles for effective practice of pronunciation teaching in the
current international literature. The pronunciation features targeted for
the intervention were derived from the interview data with both the
teacher and student participants in phase 1, triangulated with those docu-
mented in the current literature (Avery & Ehrlich, 2013; Lane & Brown,
2010; Smith & Swan, 2001). Overall, the phase 2 study commenced with
a TPL workshop to help the teachers update on pronunciation pedagogy
and refine their teaching skills, followed by individual lesson planning and
sharing, experimental teaching, and finally tracking of classroom processes.
These procedures will now be elaborated.
First, a three-hour TPL workshop focused on CPT was designed and
delivered to the teacher participants. In this workshop, Celce-Murcia
et al.’s (2010) framework for teaching pronunciation communicatively
(Table 7.1) was introduced to the teachers through an illustration of a
pronunciation lesson designed with a range of classroom tasks correspond-
ing to the aims and objectives of the framework. During this lesson dem-
onstration, I took the role of an English teacher and the teacher participants
were EFL learners. After the lesson, I put the teachers in pairs to discuss
two questions pertaining to (1) the number of stages through which the
120 L. T. NGUYEN

Table 7.1 Celce-Murcia et al.’s (2010, p. 45) CPT framework

Stages Descriptions

1. Description and Presents and explains how the target feature is produced and when it
analysis occurs within spoken discourse through oral and written illustrations
2. Listening Provides focused listening practice accompanied by feedback on
discrimination learners’ ability to correctly discriminate the feature
3. Controlled Raises learner consciousness via oral reading of minimal pair
practice sentences, short dialogues, etc., with special attention to the
highlighted feature
4. Guided practice Enables learners to monitor for the specified feature through
structured communication exercises, such as information gap
activities and cued dialogues
5. Communicative Gives learners an opportunity and requires them to attend to both
practice form and meaning of their speech in less-structured, fluency-building
activities such as role-play or problem-solving

lesson unfolded and (2) the aims and objectives of each stage. By engaging
in the lesson demonstration and through discussions of the two questions,
the teachers were able to independently explore and develop their under-
standings about the framework.
Second, to ensure the teachers’ understanding about how the frame-
work works in practice, I gave them two pronunciation textbooks and put
them in pairs to plan a 45-minute pronunciation lesson they would like to
teach by applying Celce-Murcia et al.’s communicative framework. After
that, each pair of the teachers took turns to elaborate on their own lesson
plans (LPs) and then discussed them as a whole group. The discussions
centered on the extent to which the activities the teachers decided aligned
with the aims and objectives in each stage of the framework. The data
showed that the teachers demonstrated their understandings of Celce-­
Murcia et al.’s communicative framework and were all able to apply it in
planning pronunciation lessons (Nguyen & Newton, 2021). Before the
workshop ended, we discussed and finalized that each teacher would plan
one CPT lesson covering one target pronunciation feature (e.g., long and
short vowels or sentence stress), with one teacher voluntarily taking on two.
Third, the teacher participants started designing their communicative
pronunciation LPs during the semester interval. To facilitate collaborative
learning among the teachers, one of the most important qualities of effec-
tive TPL (Darling-Hammond et al., 2009; Diefes-Dux, 2014; Nguyen &
Newton, 2021), they were asked to share their LPs within the group.
 7 PRONUNCIATION TEACHING INNOVATION IN THE ENGLISH… 121

Specifically, one week before the second semester commenced, a meeting

was set for the teachers to clarify their own LPs, followed by group discus-
sions looking at how well the activities in each lesson plan fit into each
stage of Celce-Murcia et al.’s communicative framework. In total, seven
LPs were created (Table 7.2), including explicit phonetic explanation in
stage 1 and two practice activities each for stages 2–5 (see Nguyen &
Newton (2021) for details of the LPs).
These seven LPs were subsequently implemented in one of the teach-
ers’ scheduled classes in weeks 2, 4, 6, and 8 (two lessons per week, except
for the last one) of the semester. For the teachers’ autonomy and/or cre-
ativity in teaching, I confirmed with them, prior to the implementation of
the CPT lessons, that it was their own decision to retain, adapt, or replace
any of the activities in the LPs. To track classroom processes, I observed
their classes, videotaped their lessons, and invited them to a review meet-
ing after each lesson was completed. Review meetings were scheduled in
weeks 3, 5, 7, and 9. The main aim of the review meetings was for the
teachers to reflect on and discuss the lesson they had implemented to
ensure they were all on the right track. The implementation of the seven
lessons ended in week 8 of the semester, with the final review meeting
being held in week 9.
Although the teachers reserved the right to adapt and/or replace the
activities in the LPs, classroom observations showed that they retained
them all and constructed the lessons as sequenced in the LPs. During the
final review meeting, the teachers reported that they decided to keep the
ready-made activities because of their appropriacy for classroom use. As

Table 7.2 The

Teacher Lesson and focus of instruction
teachers’ proportion of
lesson planning Quynh Lesson 1: long and short vowels
(/i:/ vs. /ɪ/)
Phuong Lesson 2: long and short vowels
(/u:/ vs. /ʊ/)
Diep Lesson 3: sentence stress; Lesson 4:
intonation
Nguyen Lesson 5: troublesome consonants
(/ʃ/ vs. /ʒ/)
Khoa Lesson 6: troublesome consonants
(/tʃ/ vs. /dʒ/)
Na Lesson 7: final sounds and linking
122 L. T. NGUYEN

they elaborated, the activities were aligned with the aims and objectives in
each practice stage of the framework, feasible in their classes, and benefi-
cial to student learning. For example, Na cited:

I decided to use these activities because they’re available, so no need to

design new ones (…) It’s a waste of time, not necessary (…) Moreover, the
activities the teachers designed were suitable to carry out in each stage of the
framework, so I just used them. And my students enjoyed them when they
practiced (…).

Drawing on the observational data, I will now report on how the teach-
ers innovated pronunciation teaching in their English classes by discussing
selected instances of the teachers’ pedagogical choices from the seven les-
sons. In the first stage of Description and Analysis, the teachers gave
explicit phonetic instruction on how the target pronunciation feature(s) is
produced through articulatory diagrams (for segmental instruction in les-
sons 1, 2, 5, and 6) and presentations and explanations of rules (for supra-
segmental features in lessons 3, 4, and 7), followed by written and oral
illustrations. They further explained some common errors Vietnamese
EFL learners make regarding the pronunciation feature(s) in focus. To
ensure students’ comprehension of the articulation of the target feature,
they then provided written examples, gave model pronunciation, and got
the whole class to repeat. For instance, in lesson 2 focused on /u:/ and
/ʊ/, after the teachers explained to students how these two vowels are
articulated and what differences should be noted between the two, they
provided common spellings for each vowel with illustrations of sample
words and asked the whole class to listen and repeat after them. In lesson
3, teaching sentence stress, they presented the rules for sentence stress
placement with sample sentences, explained the rules, and got students to
repeat the sentences chorally.
Moving on to the second stage of Listening Discrimination, the teach-
ers provided drills using minimal pairs to help students distinguish the
target features or the feature in focus from other features (lessons 1–2 and
5–7). For instance, they got students to discriminate /tʃ/ from /dʒ/ or /
tʃ/ from /ʃ/ in lesson 6 by listening to the recording of nine minimal pairs
(e.g., choice vs. Joyce, edge vs. etch, and mush vs. much, etc.) and choosing
the word they heard. For suprasegmental features, they had students listen
to the recording and identify the stressed words (lesson 3) or draw lines
that indicated the intonation contour in each individual utterance of a
 7 PRONUNCIATION TEACHING INNOVATION IN THE ENGLISH… 123

conversation (lesson 4). Specifically, the teachers had students look at a

simple conversation with each line, including one or two words, listen to
the recording and draw intonation lines illustrating either the rising or the
falling tone at the end of each sentence. They then called for answers, let
students listen again, and checked the answers together.
Each lesson then proceeded with two activities in the Controlled Practice
stage that required students to focus mainly on the form of the target fea-
tures rather than meaning. Overall, most of these mechanical tasks allowed
students to replicate the production of the target features. For example, in
lesson 7, teaching final sounds and linking, the teachers gave students 15
phrases in which consonant-vowel and consonant-consonant links are
present, as in correct answer, red door, and junk food. They then explained
the linking rules again and asked students to practice reading the phrases
out loud to a partner. Finally, the teachers called some students to read the
phrases to the whole class and gave feedback on their pronunciation.
However, some of the activities the teachers carried out at this stage of
the lessons partly involved meaning-focused practice. Lesson 1 gave a clear
example in which students were required to be slightly attentive to mean-
ing in order to achieve classroom tasks. Specifically, controlled activity 1 in
lesson 1 was for students to differentiate between long /i:/ and short /ɪ/
by listening to a partner reading a phrase or sentence that explained the
meaning of a word and deciding which word best matched the definition.
Although this activity required students to focus on the articulation of the
two vowels, they would simultaneously need to understand the meaning
of the words in each pair, for example, live and leave, rich and reach, or ship
and sheep, and so on, to help them decide whether their partner’s response
was correct.
The Guided Practice stage of each lesson was conducted with struc-
tured communicative practice ranging from information gap activities to
cued dialogues. In these tasks, students still stayed focused on the form of
the target features but concurrently needed to shift attention to meaning
slightly. As observed in lesson 6 focusing on /tʃ/ and /dʒ/, the teachers
put students in pairs and gave them a table in two flashcards in which one
student had some words their partner needed and vice versa. Students
took turns asking such questions as what word is in 1a or what is the word
in 1a and wrote the word their partner answered in their table. They kept
asking and answering until all the words were filled in their table and
finally crosschecked if the tables they had were identical. It was noted from
the observational data that students engaged quite actively in these guided
124 L. T. NGUYEN

activities. Once they were given a task and their teacher finished explaining
the task instruction, they quickly turned to each other and started talking.
For the final stage of Communicative Practice, the teachers engaged
students in two meaningful, fluency-building activities in each lesson.
Through these activities, students were given an opportunity to practice
the target pronunciation feature(s) through debates, discussions, and free
conversations, all of which involved both form and meaning focus. For
example, the teachers had students discuss in pairs what two US students
would miss about their hometown when they go to college in a different
state far away from their home in lesson 1 or how they would spend their
money if they become a billionaire in lesson 2. In other activities, students
were put in pairs or groups to talk about how well they get along with
their neighbors (lesson 3), how they plan a picnic at the weekend (lesson
4), what they did for their last vacation (lesson 5), which job is the best/
worst (lesson 6), or what can reduce or increase stress (lesson 7). Classroom
observations showed that it was at this stage of the lessons when students
were most enthusiastically involved in classroom learning. They started
talking immediately after their teachers finished giving instruction on how
to carry out the tasks. Since students were very interested in their discus-
sions, the teachers had to stop them and invited some pairs/groups to
speak up in front of the class. They then gave feedback on students’ per-
formance and finished the lesson.
Overall, the teachers successfully innovated their pronunciation teach-
ing through a shift away from corrective feedback in response to students’
individual pronunciation errors to a communicative methodology that
involved a wide selection of classroom tasks ranging from mechanical to
creative, meaningful activities. Although corrective feedback has been
shown to be facilitative to L2 students’ language development (Nassaji,
2017), not many learners are in favor of such an approach to pronuncia-
tion teaching (Couper, 2019) and thus express a strong need for more
communication-oriented teaching practices (Nguyen, 2019). Most of the
activities the teachers decided and implemented in their classes were found
to be either strongly adherent or adherent to the aims and objectives
stated in each stage of Celce-Murcia et al.’s communicative framework
(Nguyen & Newton, 2021), leading to the teachers’ and students’ strong
beliefs in the facilitative role of CPT to student learning (Nguyen & Hung,
2021). Such innovation has also responded to students’ instructional need
for more CPT that can facilitate their pronunciation and communication
skills generally (Nguyen, 2019).
 7 PRONUNCIATION TEACHING INNOVATION IN THE ENGLISH… 125

Reflections
Taken together, the data show that the teacher participants had success-
fully innovated their pronunciation teaching by applying Celce-Murcia
et al.’s (2010) communicative framework in actual instructional practices.
The five stages of the framework were sufficiently implemented in each of
the seven lessons, with the aims and objectives of each stage being fully
achieved through the teachers’ conduct of different activities ranging from
word to discourse level. From the viewpoint of an instructor, the teacher
participants during their individual follow-up interviews reported that the
implementation of CPT enabled them to (1) review pronunciation-related
theories they learnt in EFL teacher education programs, (2) provide suf-
ficient explicit phonetic instruction to learners, (3) raise students’ aware-
ness of their own pronunciation problems, and (4) make their pronunciation
teaching more inspiring.
First, the teachers believed that CPT gave them the opportunity to
revisit what they had learnt about English pronunciation as L2 learners.
They reasoned that they did not teach pronunciation for so long that they
almost forgot how to give precise explanations when addressing pronun-
ciation in their English classes. For example, Phuong commented:

Frankly, I haven’t taught pronunciation systematically for ages, so I’ve grad-

ually forgot most of what I learnt at university, you know, things like place
and manner of articulation or intonation patterns. But when I applied CPT
in this semester, I had a chance to review stuff like how different sounds in
English are produced, and how they’re named and classified, etc. (…) This
really helped because now I can explain these to my students in a clearer and
more precise way.

Second, CPT enabled the teachers to provide an adequate amount of

explicit phonetic explanations that helped students understand the mecha-
nism of the pronunciation feature in focus. From the teachers’ perspec-
tives, sufficient explicit phonetic instruction provided grounds for students’
subsequent practice and production, as illustrated in Khoa’s response:

With CPT, I can provide students with basic knowledge about pronuncia-
tion like place and manner of articulation or how to apply linking in speak-
ing English (...) Such basic knowledge can guide students’ practice later
either with friends or by themselves. For example, after I taught sentence
stress, my students basically understood them and could apply them ­correctly
126 L. T. NGUYEN

in their speaking (...) With intonation, before students had no idea about
how to use rising and falling intonation in their speaking (…) but after I
gave explicit explanations on the use of different patterns, they understood
and used them relatively appropriately in speaking practice.

Third, the teachers added that the CPT lessons helped students become
more aware of their own pronunciation difficulties. They said that CPT
allowed for awareness-raising activities through analysis of pronunciation
errors that cause misunderstandings and/or breakdowns in oral commu-
nication. As the teachers saw it, such awareness-raising activities developed
students’ understanding of how important it is to overcome their pronun-
ciation problems. For example, Diep explained:

CPT allows me to analyze students’ pronunciation errors, explain these

problems and then illustrate how these errors cause misunderstandings in
oral communication. I think with this activity, I can raise students’ awareness
of the importance of pronunciation in listening and speaking. Maybe now
they’ve realized how serious their pronunciation problems are in speaking
English and will pay more attention to practicing pronunciation.

Finally, the teachers stated that CPT aroused students’ interest in class-
room learning, making pronunciation teaching and learning more wel-
coming and inspiring. The teachers noticed that most students in their
classes were enthusiastic and actively involved in classroom activities, espe-
cially in communication tasks. Nguyen added:

I realized that students were very interested in learning. So, they engaged
actively in classroom activities, especially communicative practice. Most stu-
dents like listening and speaking activities. That’s why they were very eager
when I gave them communicative practice activities. I saw that they spoke
enthusiastically with their classmates and it made the classroom atmosphere
lively and more interesting.

Consistent with the teachers’ beliefs, classroom observations revealed

that students across the six classes whereby CPT was implemented actively
engaged in classroom learning. When it came to speaking practice, espe-
cially with dialogs, discussions and debates, they quickly turned to each
other to form pairs and/or groups and started talking. A possible explana-
tion for this is that the students were excited in part at the communication
tasks that immersed them in meaningful practice of the target feature in
 7 PRONUNCIATION TEACHING INNOVATION IN THE ENGLISH… 127

discourse. Together with explicit instruction on the target pronunciation

feature, students were also given an opportunity to participate in some
communicative activities, which they have perhaps not yet had in English
learning. As EFL learners who had been learning English for at least seven
years, the students who participated in focus group interviews also said
that they found CPT interesting and were inspired to learn pronunciation
through communicative activities. They said:

Well, I enjoyed it a lot. CPT is more effective and more interesting than
when teachers only ask us to listen and repeat after them. We’ve been learn-
ing English for nearly ten years… you know since we were in Grade 6 and
even some started in Grade 3 or 4 but I wasn’t taught pronunciation like
this before. Usually, teachers corrected our pronunciation when we made it
wrong (…). For me, I knew nothing about sentence stress or intonation
before, so my speaking sounded flat and unlike other people. CPT method
helps me know more about pronunciation like where to stress in a sentence
and how to use rising and falling intonation, etc. I felt that the lessons are
very interesting and enjoyable. (Student 1, focus group 3)
Oh, I like it very much. I’ve never been taught pronunciation like this
before. Frankly, I’m not very good at pronunciation, so my listening and
speaking skills are below average (…) But the way the teacher taught pro-
nunciation in this semester is very interesting. I felt that students in my class
were very excited and they took part in activities very actively (…) Teaching
pronunciation communicatively like in this semester is more helpful than
teachers having us listen and repeat after them just like a parrot. (Student 4,
focus group 6)

However, given the time constraints for the intervention, the students
were not really satisfied with such a small number of seven 45-minute CPT
lessons during a 12-week semester. From a learning perspective, the stu-
dents thought such a limited time frame was insufficient for pronunciation
improvement. They, therefore, expressed a wish for more instruction
focused on CPT, as evident in the following responses:

In this semester, my teacher taught us pronunciation but we also had the

opportunity to practice listening and speaking (…) I found her teaching
more interesting than teachers correcting our errors through listen-and-­
repeat activities. But I’m not very happy when such interesting teaching
only took place for four days. Why didn’t she teach us more? If she teaches
pronunciation this way every day throughout the semester, we’ll improve
our pronunciation, I think. (Student 2, focus group 1)
128 L. T. NGUYEN

Well, I liked everything, but what disappointed me was that the time my
teacher spent teaching pronunciation in this semester was too short. Why
only four days? (…) It’s a good way for us to practice speaking and listening
skills too, so it’ll be better if he teaches us more (…). I know it’s not easy to
improve our pronunciation and communication skills within a couple of
days or weeks because it takes time. So, I hope we can learn pronunciation
like this in the following semester. (Student 4, focus group 2)

These extracts reveal that the students perceived CPT as facilitative to

not only their pronunciation but also their listening and speaking skills.
Consequently, they expressed a strong need to engage in more CPT les-
sons. Previous research has also demonstrated EFL/ESL learners’ desire
for more opportunities to improve their pronunciation (Derwing &
Rossiter, 2002; Nguyen, 2019; Pardede, 2018). The finding that students
called for more CPT lessons suggests that instruction of this type is neces-
sary to accommodate the students’ wants, one of the three important
needs analysis domains that needs to be addressed in designing a language
curriculum (Macalister & Nation, 2020).
From a teaching perspective, the teachers reported that CPT was good,
but it was not feasible for their tight schedule with many language inputs
and skills that needed to be covered in class. They mentioned that they
had to assign a considerable number of tasks for self-study so that they had
time to enact the innovation. Nguyen commented:

Difficulty? Uhm… I think maybe it’s the time issue. As you can see, now the
time allotted to English is too limited. Previously, English was taught in six
60-period semesters but now we only have four semesters, 45 periods each.
This makes the curriculum overloaded, so it’s hard for teachers when they
don’t have enough time to teach what they want (…) I had to ask students
do more self-study so I could have time for these experimental teaching ses-
sions (…). So, if we want to apply this CPT approach, then I think we’ll
need more credits for the English subject. Otherwise, we can only help cor-
rect students’ pronunciation errors as we normally do.

As seen from the teachers’ responses, time appeared to be a barrier that

constrained their implementation of CPT in the classroom. According to
the teachers, the credits for the English subject at the university had been
abridged halfway from 360 to 180 periods, and they were already over-
loaded with the heavy mandated curriculum. Accordingly, they found it
difficult to teach pronunciation the way they did during the intervention
 7 PRONUNCIATION TEACHING INNOVATION IN THE ENGLISH… 129

unless more time was allocated to English teaching at their university. To

some extent, this finding aligns with Lee et al.’s (2016) research, which
found that the limited time frame of the prescribed curriculum made it
impossible for the teacher participants at a Hong Kong secondary school
to successfully apply the feedback strategies they learnt from a TPL work-
shop in their EFL writing classes. Other studies have also found time con-
straints to be a factor that prevents teachers from putting their pedagogical
beliefs into practice (Bai & Yuan, 2019; Wang, 2011).
In summary, triangulation of different data sources demonstrated that
the teacher participants successfully transformed their pronunciation
teaching from on-the-spot error correction to a more systematic approach
that incorporates communicative activities. The teachers’ and students’
stated beliefs about the CPT lessons suggest that this approach to pronun-
ciation teaching holds considerable promise within the context of the
innovation. These findings lend support to a general claim that communi-
cative activities promote L2 learners’ comprehensibility and/or intelligi-
bility (Gordon et al., 2013; Isaacs, 2009; Nguyen & Hung, 2021; Saito,
2012). According to Rogerson-Revell (2017), L2 learners, despite having
been able to properly reproduce targeted pronunciation features in isola-
tion, might still make pronunciation errors in discourse. Thus, such mean-
ingful communication tasks as problem-solving or conversational activities
are beneficial to learners’ phonological development.
It is important to note that, apart from communication tasks, CPT
methodology provides learners with detailed phonetic explanations during
the stages of Description and Analysis and Listening Discrimination, fol-
lowed by controlled and then semi-controlled activities in Controlled and
Guided Practice stages. This suggests that the combination of all these
three components is a key characteristic of this approach to pronunciation
teaching. In addition, the role of teacher feedback is another highlighted
feature of this teaching approach (Celce-Murcia et al., 2010). Research
has shown that teachers’ corrective feedback on learners’ performance
during communicative practice contributes to their pronunciation
improvement (Saito & Lyster, 2012). Thus, it is necessary for teachers to
scaffold instruction in order to create learning opportunities that enable
learners to thoroughly understand the articulation of the target pronun-
ciation features, followed by extensive practice that helps them procedur-
alize and then automatize declarative knowledge in more creative,
fluency-building communication tasks.
130 L. T. NGUYEN

Conclusion
In conclusion, the project has been a success in providing the kind of pro-
nunciation pedagogy training the teachers needed to help them develop
their expertise and refine their pronunciation teaching skills. Within a sys-
tematic pronunciation teaching methodology that started with explicit
phonetic instruction and proceeded with controlled and semi-controlled
and finally communicative activities, the teachers’ pronunciation teaching
innovation had met students’ instructional needs regarding what and how
they wanted to learn. These can all be considered key innovative aspects of
the project.
Given such a success of the innovation project that was carried out for
pronunciation instruction, it might also be meaningful for teachers to
innovate their approach to teaching other skills or aspects of the English
language such as grammar and vocabulary. In addition, studies on other
instructional methods such as task-based pronunciation teaching would
provide further insights into whether such an approach works in the same
context. Finally, since the innovation was effective within the Vietnamese
EFL context, it would be interesting to see if this innovation is applicable
in similar settings in Asia or other L2 contexts.

Acknowledgments This work was funded by University of Economics Ho Chi

Minh City (UEH), Vietnam.

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120000121
 CHAPTER 8

Using a Mock Conference as an Innovative

Internship Activity for Translation Education

Nguyen Thi Nhu Ngoc

Introduction
An internship course is usually a useful part of tertiary academic programs.
Internships help students to acquire professional skills for a real working
environment (Tobias, 1996). This hands-on course is a resource for stu-
dents to apply theory to effective clinical practice (Levitov & Fall, 2009).
Thus, more and more universities make it a compulsory course instead of
an extracurricular activity so that they can provide students with real-life
experiences and meet employers’ demands.
In translation education, internships help students improve language
skills, translation speed, confidence, independence, and teamwork; develop
professional translation and management skills; apply classroom experi-
ence in the real world; gain knowledge of the industry; and attain real
working exposure with career prospects (Astley & Hostench, 2017). In

N. T. N. Ngoc (*)
University of Social Sciences & Humanities, Vietnam National University,
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
e-mail: nhungoc@hcmussh.edu.vn

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 135

Switzerland AG 2024
L. Phung et al. (eds.), Innovation in Language Learning and
Teaching, New Language Learning and Teaching Environments,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46080-7_8
136 N. T. N. NGOC

Vietnam, many language faculties provide internship courses for their

senior translation majors. Students spend about two or three months
working as interns in a company or organization to get familiar with the
real working environment and get a sense of their future career prospects
before graduation. However, a company internship does not always mean
students can achieve all expected outcomes because they cannot apply
both their written and spoken translation knowledge and skills through
company work.
As Bezzaoucha (2021) suggests, “Simulations as a form of replicas
make up for the lack of internship opportunities and bring the benefits of
situated learning to traditional classrooms by providing access to authentic
contexts” (p. 493). The Mock Conference (MC) in a translation program
is a useful simulation, which is typically conducted as a cooperative activity
inside the classroom where students take turns to be presenters and inter-
preters. The Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature (EF), the
University of Social Sciences and Humanities, a member university of
Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City (hereinafter called
“VNUHCM-USSH”) has embedded MCs as part of internship activities
for senior translation majors to get hands-on experience since 2019.
The “mock conference” is a familiar concept in professional translation
programs, especially at the master’s level, in many other countries (Conde
& Chouc, 2019; Bezzaoucha, 2021). Nonetheless, at the tertiary level in
Vietnam, MCs are currently not as common as simulations in classrooms
and video viewing for interpreting practice. The idea of organizing an MC
as part of our internship course started in 2019 to ensure that translation
students have experience in both written and spoken translations. After
four years of implementation, we have identified a range of benefits and
challenges, and have made adjustments to enhance its quality. This chapter
provides a brief theoretical review and describes the use of MCs in transla-
tion education. Next, it describes the design and implementation of the
MC as an internship activity for senior translation students and reports the
results of an evaluation of the program from the students’ perspective.

Translation Education and Mock Conference

The Situated Learning Approach to Translation Education

In the view of the situated learning approach, learning is an act of creation
or co-construction of a new identity in partnership with others; it is
 8 USING A MOCK CONFERENCE AS AN INNOVATIVE INTERNSHIP ACTIVITY… 137

situated in specific authentic contexts and embedded in specific social and

physical environments and cultures that help learners find their perfor-
mance more practical, meaningful, and transferable to similar contexts
(McLellan, 1996; Wilson & Myers, 2000). Herrington and Oliver (2000,
p. 26) offer a practical framework for designing a situated learning envi-
ronment, which has nine features. These include: (1) provide authentic
contexts reflecting the way the knowledge is used in real life; (2) provide
authentic activities; (3) provide access to expert performance and the
modeling of processes; (4) provide multiple roles and perspectives; (5)
support collaborative construction of knowledge; (6) promote reflection
to enable abstraction to be formed; (7) promote articulation to enable
tacit knowledge to be made explicit; (8) provide coaching and scaffolding
by the teacher at critical times; (9) provide for authentic assessment of
learning within the tasks.
The situated learning approach has been employed as a theoretical
foundation for tertiary translation education. Many scholars of situated
learning, like Setton (2010) and Gillies (2013), affirm that translation
trainers find that activities with real-life situations can help students con-
nect their university learning with professional activities in a real working
environment. Thus, the internship translation course should have some
situated-learning activities. Mock conferences are one way of achieving
this, and we will now describe what they involve.

The Mock Conference as an Effective Situated

Learning Environment for Interpreter Education
Kurz (1989) defines a mock conference as an exercise carried out at a later
stage of a course involving a made-up conference involving role-play that
mimics a real conference as closely as possible. Li (2015, p. 34) suggests
an MC includes six components that can be summarized as follows: (1)
Briefing: supervisors provide a brief of the event theme, background,
speaker profiles, date, agenda, resources, tips for preparation, and so on;
(2) Preparation: students perform background and documents research,
analysis of parallel and comparable texts, glossary building, sharing of
information and discussion, labor division, and so on; (3) Participant
training: supervisors provide students with the last chance to make clarifi-
cations before the MC, checklists of rubrics generated through students
and supervisor discussion to empower participants to evaluate their own
138 N. T. N. NGOC

weaknesses and strengths, and so on; (4) MC Day: students take turns to
interpret; (5) Debriefing: students make self-assessment, and receive peer
assessment, client and audience feedback, and supervisor or expert feed-
back and suggestions; and (6) Improvement: supervisors and students use
assessment results to inform teaching and learning.
By its nature, the interpreting performance is done in live situations
where the interpreter shares the same environment with the speaker and
listeners and has access to the immediate and shared context, which keeps
unfolding and changing as the communicative event proceeds; and the
interpreter is expected to solve any translation problems as timely as pos-
sible by accessing to the immediate context to compensate for the tempo-
ral constraints (Setton, 2006). Therefore, using MCs can be quite effective
for translation education. Also, to implement an MC as an internship
activity, a group of relevant stakeholders has to go through a long proce-
dure lasting at least two months for preparation and organization and
make sure that the MC helps create an ideal situated learning environment
with the nine features requirements aforementioned by Herrington and
Oliver (2000).

The Use of the Mock Conference for Interpreting Practice

Research on the use of MCs for interpreting practice in a situated-learning
environment has revealed that they can serve as a beneficial tool for stu-
dents to practice interpreting skills. The employment of MCs for confer-
ence interpreter training shows some commendable benefits. First, MCs
are used to develop relevant communication skills and promote interpret-
ing skills such as professionalism, public speaking, and note-taking
(Fomina, 2018; Conde & Chouc, 2019; Duyen & Huyen, 2019;
Bezzaoucha, 2021; Duong & Nguyen, 2021). Second, MCs serve as a
stimulating and beneficial experience to improve professional and psycho-
logical competence, a way to facilitate the internalization of learning moti-
vation (Fomina, 2018; Gao, 2019; Duyen & Huyen, 2019). Third, MCs
provide valuable authentic practice with a situated approach to interpret-
ing teaching (Conde & Chouc, 2019; Gao, 2019; Duyen & Huyen, 2019;
Bezzaoucha, 2021; Pérez, 2021). Fourth, MCs provide positive assess-
ment of the learning outcomes and beneficial peer feedback thanks to the
student-centered approach (Bezzaoucha, 2021; Pérez, 2021; Defrancq
et al., 2022). Fifth, MCs improve students’ strategic competence, good
interpreting device management, and many other nonlinguistic
 8 USING A MOCK CONFERENCE AS AN INNOVATIVE INTERNSHIP ACTIVITY… 139

dimensions more than in traditional interpreting classes under the teacher-­

centered teaching model (Fomina, 2018; Conde & Chouc, 2019).
Because of these benefits, MCs are often organized as an academic
activity where students play the roles of speakers, interpreters, and partici-
pants. Students are free to choose different topics for their presentations
related to the MC theme as requested by the teacher and spend at least
two to four weeks preparing for their presentations and interpreting per-
formance. In various education contexts, MCs are designed and imple-
mented for simultaneous interpreting training (Conde & Chouc, 2019,
Gao, 2019, Pérez, 2021, Defrancq et al., 2022) or consecutive interpret-
ing training (Fomina, 2018; Duyen & Huyen, 2019; Bezzaoucha, 2021;
Duong & Nguyen, 2021) in classrooms. Obviously, the use of MCs has
been of great interest worldwide and focused more on simultaneous inter-
preting and graduate-level students. However, for large-sized
undergraduate-­level classes, it is difficult to do so. Thus, a mock confer-
ence focusing on consecutive interpreting is a better choice for all students
to experience conference interpreting.
In the MC design and implementation of these studies, the students
took turns to be speakers and interpreters in MCs; thus, the degree of
authenticity was not as high as those of professional ones; the numbers of
student participants varied from 3 to 35 students; the aims were to explore
the MC benefits and challenges without focusing on factors/tactics that
are effective for students’ performance, and students’ feedback and sug-
gestions for the MC organization. Thus, this chapter aims to describe an
innovative process of MC design and implementation in which the MC
speakers were lecturers and administrators from different faculties and
departments in the VNUHCM-USSH, which helped create a better pro-
fessional and authentic environment and gave an opportunity for students
to concentrate on the tasks and duties of professional interpreters. The
data collected to evaluate this project came from a sample size of over 100
students; and the students’ feedback involved all the components of the
MC organization and performance.
140 N. T. N. NGOC

The Mock Conference as an Innovative Internship

Activity for Senior Translation Majors

The Impetus for the Use of The Mock Conference

as an Innovative Internship
The EF’s internship course started in 2013 to provide translation seniors
with opportunities to become familiar with the working environment and
meet the requirements of potential employers based on the students’, lec-
turers’, employers’, and especially program-level assessors’ feedback after
the EF went under an external quality assessment for AUNQA accredita-
tion (AUNQA refers to ASEAN University Network-Quality Assurance).
We had a meeting with the EF’s translation lecturers for some adjustments
in the internship course syllabus and received the approval for revision
from the EF’s and the VNUHCM-USSH’s academic councils.
From 2013 to 2017, the course consisted of three main activities: (1)
working as an intern in a company within two or three months, (2) attend-
ing a field trip for further onsite translation practice and academic exchange
with another university, and (3) writing an internship report to reflect on
all the internship activities and lessons. In the academic year 2019–2020,
the MC was first implemented as a compulsory internship activity after the
syllabus revision to meet the students’ needs for more professional exper-
tise. Since then, the MC has been considered one distinctive internship
activity of the EF and an exemplary activity for the other foreign language
faculties at VNUHCM-USSH and other universities in South Vietnam.
After four years of design and implementation (2019–2022), we have
made some revisions. Then, in the academic year 2022–2023, the MC was
upgraded into a university-level conference.

The Design and Implementation of the Mock Conference

The MCs were developed from the Annual Model of the United Nations
conferences which simulate the United Nations General Assembly or
Security Council conferences (Pérez, 2021; Defrancq et al., 2022). As for
the design, we based it on the situated learning framework by McLellan
(1996) and Wilson and Myers (2000) as well as the adjustments following
previous MCs during four pilot years. In October 2022, a detailed MC
plan was submitted for the university’s approval. In terms of stakeholders,
the EF translation lecturers, students, and academic staff, as well as
 8 USING A MOCK CONFERENCE AS AN INNOVATIVE INTERNSHIP ACTIVITY… 141

relevant university support staff, all got involved in the MC organization

procedure. In detail, the lecturers worked as internship supervisors and
translation performance assessors, students as interpreters, and academic
and support staff as MC organizers. This university-level mock conference
took place in February 2023 and was funded by the USSH.
As for the implementation, in December 2022, the 110 students of
Cohort 2019–2023 were divided into 14 groups of 7–10 students. One
group, instructed by one teacher supervisor, worked with a specific trans-
lation topic and had a specific working scheme. Employing the six-­
procedure formulation by Li (2015), the students spent two months
preparing their background and specific knowledge and skills before the
MC Day under their supervisors’ support. The schedule is explained below
in detail:
Briefing (Week 1): A student-supervisor meeting was organized to pro-
vide all the information related to the presentations, speakers’ profiles,
speakers’ journal papers, planned agenda, tips for preparation, conference
interpreting skills, and assessment criteria.
Preparation (Weeks 2–3): The group leader worked with the supervisor
on a working scheme and appropriate labor division in research of the
background knowledge and relevant specialized documents related to the
speaker’s journal paper. The students worked together to analyze and
understand their translation topic and the speaker’s full paper, read some
other comparable texts, share their research information, discuss building
a bilingual word list, do a draft translation, and have peer evaluations
before sending all their preparation products to their supervisor via email.
Participant training (Weeks 4–7): The students worked with their
supervisor online and offline for further comments on their word list and
draft translation and conducted at least two rehearsals under the supervi-
sor’s assessment. One week before the MC Day, they received and ana-
lyzed the speaker’s PowerPoint slides in the way professionals receive from
customers. The MC agenda was confirmed so that the students could
check in on time and dress in the EF uniform.
MC Day (Week 8): The MC was organized with the procedure of a real
conference. Two EF teachers hosted the MC as the masters of ceremony,
coordinated the plenary section in the University Hall (with a capacity of
400 seats), introduced the conference agenda, organizers, and speakers,
and invited the USSH and EF representatives to deliver the opening and
welcome speeches. After that, one group would be assigned to be inter-
preters for the keynote speaker. Then students in the audience gave some
142 N. T. N. NGOC

feedback based on the given assessment criteria; and the supervisor gave
detailed comments and assessments for each student interpreter, and the
other supervisors might give some. After the plenary section, all the MC
participants moved to the smaller parallel section rooms. There were two
groups in one room, and the students took turns being interpreters.
Besides, junior students were encouraged to attend.
Debriefing (30 minutes): After the speakers’ finished their presentations
and left, the students would listen to their peer and supervisor feedback
and self-assess their performance.
Post-MC: A link to a Google form was sent to students to complete and
evaluate the MC.
There are two innovative features in designing and implementing the
MC as an internship activity:
Innovative Feature 1. It met all the nine requirements suggested by
Herrington and Oliver (2000) to create a situated-learning environment
with maximal authenticity. In detail, we worked with the relevant stake-
holders to ensure:
(1) An authentic context: Creating a student-centered environment in
which the students were the core of all the tasks of a conference interpreter;
(2) Authentic activities: Providing the students with authentic tasks and
practice contexts to perform the consecutive interpreting as real confer-
ence interpreters, visualizing their future working scenarios;
(3), (4), (5) Access to expert performances and the modeling of processes,
multiple roles and perspectives, collaborative construction of knowledge:
Providing students chances to be in a translation practice community
where they worked with each other from the first preparation stage to the
final evaluation stage, spent time building the wordlists, searching for ref-
erence sources, doing translation drafts, giving feedback to each other and
doing online and offline rehearsals in the role of interpreters and audiences
to get familiar with the professional conference environment, and sharing
of professional ethics and standards, and strategies to deal with arising
interpreting problems;
(6) Reflection to enable abstraction to be formed: Encouraging the stu-
dents to share feelings about their own and others’ performances besides
the supervisors’ evaluation during the rehearsals and the MC Day so as to
recognize strengths, weaknesses, and gaps between their levels and the
professionals’ for future improvement;
 8 USING A MOCK CONFERENCE AS AN INNOVATIVE INTERNSHIP ACTIVITY… 143

(7) Articulation to enable tacit knowledge to be made explicit: Developing

interactive and collaborative relationships among the group members,
teachers, and guest speakers during all the MC stages;
(8) Coaching and scaffolding by the teacher at critical times: Providing
supportive assistance from the supervisors and the EF during the MC pro-
cess in the form of task guides and resources to meet students’ learning
needs and help them achieve learning outcomes;
(9) Authentic assessment of learning within the tasks: Designing authen-
tic assessment with specific criteria developed from translation quality
assessment rubrics in a combination of the academic and professional envi-
ronments, allowing students to be fully aware and effectively perform with
acquired knowledge.
Innovative Feature 2. We developed our MCs based on the simulation
of the United Nations conferences. However, the difference is that we
invited real speakers from different faculties and offices of the USSH
(including lecturers/experts from the Faculties of Sociology, Tourism,
Urban Studies, Cultural Studies, Vietnamese Studies, Journalism; the
University Library; the Administrative Affairs Office, etc.). The reasons for
this choice are as follows:
(1) Time-saving: It would help the student interpreters save time and
focus more on their preparation and training in the MC second and third
procedures.
(2) Authentic professional experience: The students had to spend more
time researching documents related to the translation topics in the way
professional interpreters do.
(3) Authentic interpreting performance: Because the speakers were real,
experienced ones with a lot of journal publications and real-life conference
reports, the students would have a better experience of being professional
interpreters and learn more strategies to deal with any translation prob-
lems arising, which also supported the situated learning approach.
(4) Exploration of the internal intellectual sources: Thanks to its mem-
bers’ number and quality of research publications, VNUHCM is currently
one of Vietnam’s top public universities with the high rankings in the QS
and the World University Rankings (VNUHCM, 2023). Thus, the use of
the publications by the academic and administrative staff at the USSH, a
VNUHCM member, is quite encouraging. These papers examined differ-
ent aspects of the fields of social sciences and humanities, and thus their
English draft translations and interpreting performances at the MC did
help students discover authentic data, real challenges, and possible
144 N. T. N. NGOC

interpreting solutions. This indicates our creative utilization of the USSH’s

multidisciplinary education and helps establish good interdisciplinary rela-
tionships with the academic and administrative staff who are always ready
to support us in implementing the MCs.

Evaluation of the MC as an Innovative

Internship Activity

Collection of Students’ Feedback

The MC model has been held for senior translation majors at the EF since
2019, and after an MC completion, we, including the teacher supervisors
and MC organizers, had a meeting to discuss the MC strengths and short-
comings for improvement the next time. Thus, in the current MC, we
only collected the feedback of students.
With a large number of participants, 110 students, we decided to
employ a student questionnaire with five sections. As for the quantitative
data, sections 1–4 consisted of some items using the Likert scale for their
agreement or disagreement. As for the qualitative data, each section has
one open item for students’ further compliments, complaints, and/or
suggestions for changes or improvements. All the questions were to
explore how the students thought about the quality of the MC organiza-
tion, the quality of supervisors’ support, and the benefits and challenges of the
MC. Section 5 had two open questions for the student evaluation of factors
and/or tactics effective for their interpreting performance at the MC. The
five sections are responding to all the steps in the six-procedure formula-
tion of an MC suggested by Li (2015).
The MC Day took place in mid-February 2023, and the students were
requested to submit their internship reports two weeks later. Then, an
online questionnaire in Google form was sent to them in early March
2023, ensuring that the student interpreters really had careful thoughts
after writing their internship reports and that their responses would be
more accurate and reliable. In addition, to get reliable and valid data, the
participants could complete the questionnaire within 14 days, a long time
enough to recall experiences, make good decisions on answers, and pro-
vide in-depth recommendations or suggestions for the open questions.
The data was then processed with SPSS version 2022.
 8 USING A MOCK CONFERENCE AS AN INNOVATIVE INTERNSHIP ACTIVITY… 145

Evaluation of the MC Design and Implementation

Students’ Feedback on the Mock Conference Organization

The students highly appreciated the MC organization. Their positive feed-
back indicated that most of them completely supported the MC organiza-
tion, which showed that the first procedure (briefing) and the fourth
procedure (MC Day) were well-operated. In fact, to achieve such results,
we provided all the supervisors and students with a detailed internship
plan so that they all knew the timelines and completed their given tasks.
This likely led to the students’ feeling of being in a professional interpret-
ing conference environment.
However, some students felt unsatisfied with the organization time and
the arrangement of the MC operation. In fact, many students had intern-
ship/part-time jobs and prepared for the MC interpreting performance
simultaneously; they had many deadlines and were under pressure. Some
could manage the workload but others found it really tough. However,
choosing a time that satisfied all the students was not easy. In addition, the
schedule depended on external factors, such as the schedules of the speak-
ers and the university’s academic plan. Thus, it was a challenge and oppor-
tunity for the students to learn how to manage their time and a chance to
deal with work pressure, which could be quite useful for their future
careers.
We also had some unexpected problems in the facilities, such as seating
and technical issues related to the sound quality of the microphones. In
Pérez (2021), the students were aware that not everything would go as
planned during the MC process, and unforeseen events could happen,
such as sound and image problems. In our case, due to the high atten-
dance of second- and third-year students in the audience, some could not
find seats in the parallel-section rooms. Besides, there was only one micro-
phone in one of the seven parallel section rooms due to the sound system
structure, so the interpreters had to speak up loudly. This was really incon-
venient and out of our control, though we knew the sound quality affected
the audience’ ability to hear the speakers and interpreters.
Some students suggested organizing the MC outside the university and
having more evaluators, which is worth considering. The MC can be held
at a convention center, boosting the spirit of the would-be interpreters
and creating a real-life environment. Besides, professional interpreters can
be invited as MC assessors. However, it depends on the internship budget
146 N. T. N. NGOC

and the university’s financial policy. The students’ MC location preference

is in line with Bezzaoucha (2021), in which students expected MCs to be
held in venues different from their familiar environments.
Furthermore, some were concerned about the speakers’ quality. It was
indeed difficult for them because conference speakers had different styles
of presentation, and they had to find appropriate tactics in specific con-
texts. In addition, many student groups expressed the desire to be on the
stage and interpret the keynote speech. Ardito (1999) suggests that MCs
are organized as authentically as possible to reflect the professional reality
with the participation of international speakers to classrooms. However,
this may work well with a small number of student interpreters. In our
context, lengthening the MC agenda for some days is impossible, and a
normal conference just has one or two keynote speeches. The student
group to perform the keynote speech interpreting was chosen at random
and announced right in the first student-supervisor meeting, which
remains our best choice for the large sample size of our participants.
In short, the MC organization procedure worked well thanks to all the
stakeholders’ cooperation. Especially, the MC was innovatively conducted
as a university-level conference funded by the university, though there
existed some unavoidable problems. In addition, such problems turn out
to be opportunities for students to learn how to prepare for their future
careers.

Students’ Feedback on the Teacher

Supervisors’ Support
The students valued their teacher supervisors, thinking that the supervi-
sors had good professional support. This reflects our continuous efforts to
find out our shortcomings and solutions for improvement in the next aca-
demic year and make a more detailed and carefully revised plan. Most of
the students were satisfied with their supervisors’ guidance. Specifically,
they appreciated and respected the supervisors’ dedication, constructive
approach, and positive working attitude. This affirms the necessity and
effectiveness of teacher supervisors.
Besides the good qualifications, useful advice, encouragement, tips, and
experiences of their supervisors, some students expected to receive more
detailed feedback for their translation work related to the wordlist, transla-
tion draft, and interpreting performance during the MC process; and felt
 8 USING A MOCK CONFERENCE AS AN INNOVATIVE INTERNSHIP ACTIVITY… 147

unsatisfied with the supervisors’ inappropriate time and place manage-

ment for discussion and rehearsals due to their tight schedules. Some even
expected more friendly behaviors and humor from their supervisors so
that they could reduce stress and pressure in interpreting performance.
These constructive suggestions should be seriously considered for supervi-
sors’ improvement and effectiveness. It is similar to the students’ expecta-
tions in Bezzaoucha (2021) that supervisors would guide the students and
enhance their confidence.
It can be concluded that the students are highly satisfied with the super-
visors’ quality, supportive behaviors, and useful experiences. However,
some expected to receive more detailed feedback, more flexible schedules,
and more friendly behaviors and humor from their supervisors.

Students’ Feedback on the Benefits

of the Mock Conference

The students affirmed that they learned professional interpreting and

communication skills and broadened their views about interpreting tasks.
In addition, they could familiarize themselves with the conference inter-
preting environment and felt interested in their future jobs. Their feed-
back is quite similar to those reported in Conde and Chouc (2019,
pp. 9–11), where the students recognized the benefits of adequate prepa-
ration and agreed that participation in MCs as a situated learning activity,
designed as a largely student-led exercise, could help consolidate their
determination to become professional interpreters.
MCs are important activities in translation education because they pro-
vide notable career orientation and strong motivation for professional
experiences for years (Lin, 2013). Our students’ feedback confirmed these
and other benefits. The students enjoyed a natural exposure to different
topics because the speakers came from areas of social sciences and humani-
ties, and the students were exposed to a lot of new vocabulary and subject
knowledge, which was quite useful for widening their linguistic and back-
ground knowledge and preparing for their future jobs. Students also
appreciated the opportunities to simulate real-life interpreting scenarios,
including interpreting in real-time, dealing with technical equipment, and
navigating the conference setting. Many particularly enjoyed the MC as an
internship activity because all the MC tasks provided them authentic prac-
tice in the form of hands-on experience to gain the skills essential for
148 N. T. N. NGOC

real-life interpreting situations. In addition, the MC allowed students to

receive constructive assessment in the form of feedback and evaluation from
their peers and supervisors, which were seen as really essential for them to
refine their professional skills. Finally, the MC offered students a support-
ive network with other student interpreters and professionals. Students all
had a chance to build connections and learn about career opportunities.

Students’ Feedback on the Challenges

of the Mock Conference

Although the students put great effort into their interpreting perfor-
mance, many felt worried due to the challenging MC atmosphere and
problems with difficult vocabulary and specific text contents in translation.
Obviously, the MC atmosphere was more real life than that of a traditional
interpreting class, and some students might have felt nervous or stressed.
However, this turned out to be a positive backwash effect because it
exposed students to different degrees of anxiety, which could be helpful
for them to learn to psychologically manage their anxiety, overcome trans-
lation barriers, and prepare them for the market better than practice in
traditional classrooms (Lin et al., 2004). This implication is also affirmed
by Alexeeva and Shutova (2010), who suggest that pressure is one of the
aspects relevant to real-life practice, given that it is an experience as near to
a real-life environment as feasible, and hence favorable to the so-called
stress of working in front of a real audience (p. 14), which is quite essential
for students to learn to manage. Besides, some students expected to feel
the most challenging moments of interpreting the keynote speech under
the witness of the biggest audience, but it was impossible for 110 student
interpreters in this MC. However, in Pérez (2021), students got similar
fear when a speaker did not provide any documents beforehand. In short,
their challenges came from their levels of experience with the professional
working environment and their translation competency.
Other challenges reported by the students include the limited scope of
the translation topics in the MC, which did not cover natural sciences and
other fields and other possible topics or scenarios students may encounter
in their future work. Although simulating real-life situations, the MC
might have limited authenticity in that many students might not experi-
ence the same level of pressure and stress as in a real conference. In addi-
tion, the one-day MC format and scale might affect the amount of
 8 USING A MOCK CONFERENCE AS AN INNOVATIVE INTERNSHIP ACTIVITY… 149

individual exploration, feedback, and evaluation for all the 110 student
interpreters, while some of the supervisors might have limited feedback
and limited time for fully detailed individual assessment, which may not
have allowed the students to fully explore all the nuances of the translation
topics or receive as much feedback as expected. Finally, the MC in this
academic environment offered the students limited language variety to
interpret, while in a real conference there may be multiple languages
involved. The students were requested to interpret from Vietnamese to
English, and each performed for about seven to ten minutes. We could
not extend the MC Day and invite English-speaking presenters for more
practice due to time and budget constraints, so there might be some limi-
tations on the students’ exposure to and practice with interpreting in mul-
tiple languages.

Students’ Feedback on the Influential Factors

and Effective Tactics

The students thought that eight factors might be influential for their per-
formance at the MC, including: aptitude, listening, memory, psychology,
note-taking, speaker’s quality, teamwork, and translation topic. Noticeably,
memory was mentioned as the top factor. Besides, many students provided
the most important aspects or tactics that they believed in and/or applied
to help better their performance. In detail, they felt more confident with
good preparation through building and learning the word list, reading the
translation documents and reference documents, and doing rehearsals.
Students found it essential to understand the translation topics carefully so
that they could prepare and use relevant terminologies. They noted that
their good mental control helped them to deal with challenges in their
performance because they felt calm, comfortable, confident and able to
maintain composure to boost credibility and deal with any rising prob-
lems/troubles. Their teamwork skills helped them to engage in working
with the other members of the interpreter group, listening to their transla-
tion and supporting those in need, being ethical and professional. Their
appropriate use of translation skills such as note-taking skills and memory
tactics really helped them to remember the ideas and details, and employ
translation techniques to transfer the ideas and messages appropriately
with accuracy and fluency, and deliver the speaker’s ideas and nuances at a
suitable pace.
150 N. T. N. NGOC

Their suggested tactics quite match the eight influential factors that
they mentioned in their responses to our survey. This means during the
MC’s six-procedure formulation, the students were fully aware of what to
do, such as having good preparation, using teamwork skills, knowing how
to control their mental states, having a good understanding of the transla-
tion topics, applying interpreting skills to deliver ideas with accuracy and
fluency in the conference, and interpreting performance.

Pedagogical Implications
MCs can be used as “a bridge between classroom realism and professional
realism” to give students the way to enter the industry, and students per-
ceive MCs as “good, beneficial, and stimulating learning experiences”,
though MCs are challenging tasks (Li, 2015, pp. 328, 338). Based on our
evaluation of the MC as an internship activity, some pedagogical implica-
tions for the use of MCs are as follows:
To maximize the benefits of a situated learning activity, teachers can use
MCs for undergraduate translation-majored seniors to have hands-on
consecutive interpreting practice as compensation for the lack of transla-
tion opportunities in their company internship. As part of the internship
course, it can be officially and advantageously funded for the organization.
To be a good internship supervisor in an MC, teachers are supposed to
play many roles, such as a good listener, a good assessor, and even a good
partner with friendly and humorous manners.
To deal with the major MC challenges, some solutions may be applied.
First, to expand the MC scope, it is encouraging to invite guest speakers
from different fields to provide more diverse content. A course or module
of conference interpreting may be supplemented for students’ additional
practice opportunities. To increase authenticity, teachers should encour-
age students to spend more time and effort to practice their skills to meet
professional assessment criteria, and familiarize themselves with more
background materials, glossaries, translation topics, and terminologies. In
addition, to increase feedback and practice time for a large number of
student interpreters while the time is limited, supervisors should be patient
and give them more guidance and support through rehearsal, provide
constructive feedback on interpreting skills, encourage peer feedback, and
even record students’ interpretation practice for students’ self-review.
Finally, because MCs may not reflect the full diversity of language varieties
and accents like real ones, supervisors should encourage students to
 8 USING A MOCK CONFERENCE AS AN INNOVATIVE INTERNSHIP ACTIVITY… 151

practice interpreting more in various contexts outside the classroom to

enrich their language and dialect exposure.
Thus, to help students improve their MC interpreting tactics is a long-­
term learning process. Some applicable suggestions for classroom practice
include using role-play scenarios to simulate real conferences because role-­
plays can be done easily in class for interpreting speeches, giving questions
and answers, and working on their memory tactics, note-taking skills,
teamwork skills, and aptitude, which will really help students to be more
confident and perform better in the big mock conference like the one in
this study. Furthermore, teachers can use technology like online platforms
to simulate conference settings and allow students to practice remote
interpreting, a popular form of interpreting especially after Covid-19,
which helps save classroom time. Another suggestion is that teachers can
focus on developing students’ time management skills with more exercises
to improve their speed and accuracy. Another idea is giving students vari-
ous forms of cooperative learning in their translation courses to foster
their sense of community and mutual support. Finally, teachers may
encourage and even require students to attend university conferences to
obtain valuable real-life experience.
The MC evaluation in this chapter serves as confirmation of its useful-
ness as an internship activity that deserves teachers’ and students’ time and
effort. The insights gained from the project will help to improve the qual-
ity of the EF’s internship course in not only our program but also similar
translation education programs at the tertiary level worldwide.

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 PART III

Technology Integration
 CHAPTER 9

Enhancing Student Participation in Online

Collaborative Learning Groups, Using
a Design Framework and Accessible
Technologies

Vu Thi Thanh Nha

Introduction
Collaborative learning has been documented to provide multiple educa-
tional benefits for students in both face-to-face and online learning envi-
ronments (Harsch et al., 2021; Ingram & Hathorn, 2004; Lapitan et al.,
2023; Le et al., 2018; Ng, 2012; Nokes-Malach et al., 2015; Roberts,
2004; Zhang et al., 2021). It is an active learning strategy to enhance
achievement, personal development, and psychological health (Khalil &
Ebner, 2017; Ng, 2012; Razzouk & Johnson, 2012; Slavin, 2010;
Stephens & Roberts, 2017). Covid-19 breakout forced many ELT teach-
ers in Vietnam to adopt full online classes with inadequate preparation for

V. T. T. Nha (*)
VNU University of Languages and International Studies,
Vietnam National University-Hanoi, Hanoi, Vietnam
e-mail: nhavtt@vnu.edu.vn

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 157

Switzerland AG 2024
L. Phung et al. (eds.), Innovation in Language Learning and
Teaching, New Language Learning and Teaching Environments,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46080-7_9
158 V. T. T. NHA

the switch (Le et al., 2022). One common complaint about online classes
is the challenge to implement group work and increase student participa-
tion (Harsch et al., 2021; Tao & Gao, 2022). Previous studies have identi-
fied some solutions, including group size (Luo et al., 2023), role
assignment (Luo et al., 2023), flipped classrooms (Lapitan et al., 2023),
and instructional planning strategy to facilitate collaboration in online
groups (Stephens & Roberts, 2017). However, as Ng (2012) points out,
online learners’ perception is crucial for effective learning. She explains:

we cannot assume that students will automatically tune in to this new

approach to learning. They need to perceive online collaborative learning as
useful and motivating. (Ng, 2012, p. 2497)

This chapter, therefore, reports findings from an action research project

that adopted a design framework to facilitate collaboration in online
groups to enhance student participation in a postgraduate course at a
Vietnam public university. It aims to address the following questions:

1. How can the facilitator support online group work effectively?

2. What are learners’ attitudes toward online group work?

To address the questions, this chapter, therefore, first reviews the online
collaborative learning principles and strategies to increase student partici-
pation in online environments. It then analyzes an action research study
conducted to apply these principles in the context of Vietnam, followed by
detailed discussions of the findings and implications for future research
and instruction.

Literature Review

Online Collaborative Learning Pedagogy

Collaborative learning refers to learning that occurs when a group of
learners work together toward a common goal (Ingram & Hathorn, 2004;
Ng, 2012; Roberts, 2004). Collaborative learning is sometimes contrasted
with cooperative learning in terms of philosophy and organizational tech-
niques. While collaborative learning focuses on constructing knowledge
together, cooperative learning puts more emphasis on the completed work
assembled from the share of individual group members. The former
 9 ENHANCING STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN ONLINE COLLABORATIVE… 159

requires learners to closely work in a team toward the final goal, whereas
the latter does not require the company of group members to complete
the task. Ingram and Hathorn (2004, p. 216) highlight the differences
between the two strategies regarding the merging point and the complex-
ity of the interactions. While cooperation is labeled as ‘divide-­and-­conquer’
in which students can complete their share in isolation and then ‘stitched
together’ to finish the assignment, collaboration requires students to con-
tinuously work together for joint products.
It is, however, noted that the two concepts (cooperative and collabora-
tive learning) are also interchangeably used in some situations (Arends &
Kilcher, 2010; Slavin, 2010). This study adopted collaborative learning
principles to organize group work and focused on learning processes in an
online environment with three important elements of collaboration,
namely participation, interactions, and synthesis (Ingram & Hathorn,
2004). Group members must participate in group work through interac-
tions to achieve a synthesized product from individual inputs.
Collaborative learning is intellectually supported by three educational
perspectives: (1) social interdependence, (2) constructivism, and (3)
behavioral learning theories (Razzouk & Johnson, 2012). First, social
interdependence theory views that positive interdependence (coopera-
tion) results from promotive interaction as individuals encourage and
facilitate each other’s efforts to learn. If group members work separately,
the group lacks functional interdependence and interactions. Second, con-
structivism largely drawing from the work of Vygotsky and Cole (1978)
reveals the social nature of knowledge-building processes. Learners are
engaged in joint activities to learn, understand, and solve problems. Third,
behavioral learning theory provides theoretical background for the aca-
demic and social impacts of interactions and group rewards on learning
(Slavin, 1987).
When learning is structured in online environments, collaborative
learning still has its original educational values (Davis et al., 2022;
Hernández-Sellés et al., 2019; Lehtinen et al., 1999; Miller & Young,
2023; Ng, 2012; Roberts, 2004). In addition, it offers flexibility in joining
the conversations from differing locations and points of time due to
technology-­based tools (Bennett, 2004; Lehtinen et al., 1999). Lehtinen
et al. (1999) have reviewed numerous advantages of online collaborative
learning in several aspects:
160 V. T. T. NHA

1. Communication: Enabling students with diverse backgrounds and

from differing locations to communicate so that multiple perspec-
tives and solutions to problems could be obtained.
2. Student-centered learning: Facilitating student-centered learning in
authentic and collaborative learning settings.
3. Active learning: Fostering active and independent learning.
4. Academic gain: Enabling learners to discuss their subject matter in
greater depth and thus considerably enhance their critical think-
ing skills.
5. Motivation: Increasing learner involvement and incentives to learn,
leading to a wider and more complete understanding of the subject
knowledge.

Challenges of Online Collaborative Learning

In addition to reported benefits, there are some observed challenges of
group work in the literature. Roberts (2004) summarizes some challenges
such as the existence of free rider members who do not work but get credit
for group work, the negative attitudes toward slow students, and the
divide among group members. Le et al. (2018) find four obstacles
Vietnamese students perceived of collaborative learning, including lack of
collaborative skills, free-riding effects, competence status leading to the
dominating roles of more competent students in group discussions, and
friendship that distracts students from meaningful and focused collabora-
tion. Later works report more disadvantages, specifically for online group
work, namely time management, lack of personal interaction, reduced
accountability, and technical challenges:

1. Time management difficulties: It can be challenging to coordinate

schedules and ensure that all team members are available for online
group work. (Bakir et al., 2020; Graham & Misanchuk, 2004; Koh
& Hill, 2009).
2. Insufficient personal interaction: Online group work lacks personal
interactions and nonverbal cues that are present in face-to-face
meetings, leading to difficulty in building trust, establishing rap-
port, and resolving conflicts, especially in heterogeneous groups
(Bakir et al., 2020; Graham & Misanchuk, 2004; Harsch et al., 2021).
3. Reduced accountability: Online group work might be challenging
to monitor progress, hold team members accountable for their
 9 ENHANCING STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN ONLINE COLLABORATIVE… 161

actions, and ensure that everyone is committed to contributing

(Bakir et al., 2020; Bennett, 2004; Graham & Misanchuk, 2004;
Koh & Hill, 2009).
4. Technical difficulties: Technical issues, namely slow Internet con-
nectivity or software or hardware problems, can disrupt online
group work and reduce its effectiveness and equal participation
among members (Bennett, 2004; Koh & Hill, 2009).

It is important to be aware of these drawbacks to mitigate them to

enhance online group work and achieve the best outcomes.

Strategies for Effective Online Group Work

There have been numerous strategies applied to ensure effective collab-
orative learning, in both online and face-to-face environments. Educators
looked at group structures (Stephens & Roberts, 2017), member roles
(Luo et al., 2023), and reward mechanisms (Arends & Kilcher, 2010). In
this study, I adopted a design framework for facilitating collaboration in
online groups (FCOG) proposed by Stephens and Roberts (2017) with
four steps:

1. Creating groups: Small group sizes allow interactions and flexibility

in arranging group meetings. Giving students options to choose
groups also facilitates group scheduling and consensus in the group.
Themes that reflect the interest areas are created to name groups.
2. Establishing expectations: All group members are aware of group
expectations and activities and resources (e.g. reading or quiz) they
have to go through in the course.
3. Communication tools: Communications tools, which can include
rather-than-LMS (Learning Management System) options for group
members, are critical for online groups. Learners may have guided
sessions to use the tools.
4. Assignments and activities: Online assignments and activities should
integrate the use of technology tools. Assignment questions allow
open and multiple answers with authentic products.
162 V. T. T. NHA

Tools for Online Group Work

There are a range of tools for online group work, which can be classified
based on the nature of communication, asynchronous or synchronous.
Asynchronous communication takes place outside of real time. For exam-
ple, a learner sends an e-mail message to other group members, who later
read and respond to the message. There is a time lag, though short,
between the time the learner sends the message and other members reply.
Asynchronous communication takes place whenever learners have the
time to complete them. Viewing videos linked to the course site, reading
a textbook, and writing a paper are all asynchronous activities. Some tools
for asynchronous group communication include emails, blogs, Padlet,
LMS, Google Docs, and websites. These tools allow group members to
communicate over one topic at a time and place of their own choice.
However, several limitations of asynchronous communication have been
reported: delayed feedback, missed turns, inadequate time, and feelings of
social disconnection (Khalil & Ebner, 2017).
In contrast, synchronous, or real-time, communication takes place like
a conversation. For example, in a chat session of a writing class, learners
get online in the same chat room and type questions, comments, and
responses in real time. Synchronous activities may include chat sessions,
whiteboard drawings, and other group interactive work. Some tools for
synchronous communication are Zoom, Facebook Messenger, Teams
Meeting, and Google Meet, which allow real-time communication and
collaboration in a “same time-different place” mode (Khalil & Ebner,
2017, p.531). Synchronous tools are best to facilitate brainstorming and
quick sharing activities among group members (Ingram & Hathorn,
2004). Their disadvantages, however, have been reported to include hard-
ware requirements (microphone or video camera), Internet connection,
discussion moderation, and equal member participation (Khalil &
Ebner, 2017).
In selecting tools for this online class, I considered three aspects: nature
of communication, access, and text type support, as summarized in
Table 9.1.
Detailed use of these applications will be provided in the following
section.
 9 ENHANCING STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN ONLINE COLLABORATIVE… 163

Table 9.1 Descriptions of communication tools for online group work

Tools Description Features

Nature of Access Text type

communication support

Google An application that allows Both synchronous Fairly easy Texts,

Docs students to write or insert and asynchronous with user images
texts online. accounts and
Internet access
Padlet An online bulletin board that Both synchronous Fairly easy Texts,
allows students to share and and asynchronous with Internet images,
collaborate on ideas, notes, access videos,
and documents. audio,
files
Zoom A videoconferencing Synchronous and Fairly easy Texts,
platform that allows for asynchronous for with Internet images,
virtual meetings, webinars, selected functions access and videos,
and screen sharing, making it video and audio,
a useful tool for group audio files
discussions and equipment
presentations.
Google An LMS that allows Both synchronous Medium easy Texts,
Classroom facilitators to give and asynchronous with account images,
assignments, create a forum login and videos,
discussion, provide materials, Internet access audio,
and send messages files
Zalo A communication app that Both synchronous Medium easy Texts,
allows users to send instant and asynchronous with account images,
messages, make video or login using a videos,
audio calls. mobile phone audio,
number and files
Internet access
Email An application that allows Asynchronous Fairly easy Texts,
users to exchange messages with an images,
account log in videos,
and Internet audio,
access files
164 V. T. T. NHA

Implementing Online Collaborative Learning

The Research Context

The study was developed in the context of a three-credit training course
on material and curriculum development offered in 2022. This is an
English-medium course toward a 27-credit postgraduate diploma in
teaching English as a foreign language with 11 subjects for six months.
The course was 100% online via Zoom Meeting for synchronous sessions
with the support of Google Classroom for classroom management. Padlet
was used for during-class interactions and note-taking.
This six-week course lasted 45 hours. It aimed to provide students with
knowledge and skills in curriculum development so that they can write or
evaluate a curriculum. It also develops some academic skills to read aca-
demic texts and work in groups, and develop some personal attributes
such as honesty, collaboration, and proactive attitudes. Assessments for
the course include online quizzes, group work, and a final assignment.
The facilitator was also the researcher of the study with 25 postgraduate
students aged 23 to 33, 1 Chinese and 24 Vietnamese. However, the
Chinese student rarely interacted with others due to Internet restrictions.
Their English proficiency was at least B2 (CEFR levels). They had varied
work experience, the majority being English teachers (75%) and 12.5%
being school or center managers or administrative staff. These teachers
worked in various teaching contexts. Fourteen participants mainly worked
at primary schools (years 1–5), 11 worked at lower secondary schools
(years 6–9), high schools (years 10–12), and universities, and 9 worked at
kindergartens.

Data Collection
Data were collected along with teaching activities (Burns, 2010) to explore
students’ opinions and performance. The researcher used questionnaires,
students’ work and reflections as well as course materials and observation
notes by the facilitator for data collection in four action research stages:
plan, action, observe, and reflect (Burns, 2010).
There were two questionnaires: a needs analysis questionnaire delivered
at the first session with 23 respondents, coded NQ1-NQ23, and an evalu-
ation questionnaire at the final session with 24 respondents, coded EQR1-­
EQR24. The first questionnaire was delivered to collect the participants’
 9 ENHANCING STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN ONLINE COLLABORATIVE… 165

needs and expectations for the course. It included personal information

about their jobs, workplaces, and teaching experience. Meanwhile, the
second one evaluated their experience with the course. It consisted of
standard course evaluation items of objectives, design, delivery, learning,
administration, and open-ended questions to elicit their opinions about
group work.
Another type of data was students’ guided reflections collected after the
course, which aimed to help the students be more mindful of group work
experiences and future applications (Bulman, 2008). The students wrote
to respond to six prompt questions about their role, how they arranged
group work, the problem they encountered and solutions, their gain from
group work, the most enjoyable aspects, and suggestions for future group
work. Twenty students submitted their reflections which were coded from
R1 to R20.
Other data, including the facilitator’s during-the-course feedback and
students’ works, was also examined to reflect on the project
implementation.

Data Analysis
Data analysis in this exploratory research was an iterative process (Creswell
& Clark, 2011), which involved both data analysis and collection. Data
was analyzed to inform subsequent data collection activities, providing
inputs for new data analysis. Close-ended questions were described in
tables and charts. Open-ended questions and students’ reflection notes
were analyzed, using a constant comparative analysis method (Creswell,
2007), to identify key themes. The participants were anonymized and
numbered consecutively.

Procedures
Group work was organized corresponding to four-phase action research:
plan, action, observe, and reflect. Activities were adjusted based on infor-
mation collected from each phase. Students worked in two types of groups:
fixed groups to complete an assignment making up 30% of the total course
scores and random group discussions during synchronous facilitator-led
sessions.
166 V. T. T. NHA

Planning
The planning stage was conducted before and during the first session. Its
purpose is to identify the what, who, and how issues in action research
(Burns, 2010). The “what” issues refer to the focus of the research, which
was meant to examine online group work and students’ experience when
they switched to a new mode of learning. People involved in this study
were the course facilitator (also the researcher), and 25 postgraduate stu-
dents enrolled in this course. To better understand the students, a needs
analysis questionnaire was delivered at the first session to collect back-
ground information about the learners, including demographic, gender,
work, experience in curriculum development, and expectations for the
course (see the context of the study). Only 23 out of the total 25 students
responded to the questionnaire as one Chinese student could not access
the Google form, and another missed the first session.
This stage adopted a four-step planning form for facilitating collabora-
tion in online groups (Stephens & Roberts, 2017).

Creating Groups
The lecturer provided eight discussion topics under the course outline and
selected eight team leaders who could choose a topic of interest before
they recruited another two members for their team. One problem was that
the students seemed to favor certain topics, which were more aligned with
their interests or scheduled later in the course so that they could have
more preparation time. The group leaders then had to negotiate and select
one topic per group and decided on the contact information in the table
for group communication (Table 9.2).

Establishing Expectations
To help the students be aware of course expectations, the facilitator briefed
them about the assessment policy and responded to any questions from
the students at the first session. Accordingly, students had to work in
groups to complete a lecture guide, a group presentation, a quiz, and a
writing reflection. Assessment criteria included content, collaboration,
visual aids, delivery, time limit (for oral presentation), and references
(Table 9.3). These criteria evaluated both collaboration (reflected in the
process and final product) and individual efforts (oral presentation).
 9 ENHANCING STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN ONLINE COLLABORATIVE… 167

Table 9.2 Examples of group setup by theme

Date of Topics Group leader Group
presentation and contact members

2022-04-22 Group 1: Approaches to curriculum Email and

design phone number
2022-04-22 Group 2: Needs and environment analysis Email and
phone number
2022-04-29 Group 3: Principles and method Email and
phone number
2022-04-29 Group 4: Goals, content (language), and Email and
sequence; format and presentation phone number
2022-05-06 Group 5: Monitoring and assessment Email and
phone number
2022-05-06 Group 6: Curriculum evaluation Email and
phone number
2022-05-20 Group 7: Evaluating materials Email and
phone number
2022-05-20 Group 8: Adapting textbooks Email and
phone number

Table 9.3 Assessment criteria for group assignment

Assessment criteria Description

Content Related to the topic and include examples and explanations that
reflect the student’s understanding of the topics
Visual aids (oral Well designed and supportive to understand the presentation
presentation)
Delivery (oral Personal presentation of the content (voice and clarity)
presentation)
Time limit (oral The presentation is within 40 minutes
presentation)
References Updated and relevant to the content
Collaboration Allows group members to work independently and collaboratively
to complete the task.
A reflection note that reflects their authentic experience in group
work is included.
168 V. T. T. NHA

Communication Tools
The online course applied multiple technology tools for both asynchro-
nous and synchronous communication. First, Google Classroom was offi-
cially mandated as an LMS to manage group learning where the enrolled
students could receive course materials and announcements and submit
their homework assignments. All students could access Google Classroom
except one Chinese student residing in China who did not have Gmail
access during the course. Second, Zoom and Padlet were used for syn-
chronous communications to communicate with the whole class. The stu-
dents, however, could opt for their preferred modes of communication
when they work in small groups, for example Quizizz, Kahoot, Google
Form or Google Docs, Canva, and Zalo (an app similar to WhatsApp for
messaging) (Table 9.1).

Assignments and Activities

The course combined various activity formats. Each session is usually com-
prised of six main activities, in which presentation and quiz are the activi-
ties facilitated by one student group for 40 minutes out of the total 120
minutes (see Fig. 9.1).
A warm-up activity started with brainstorming questions about the ses-
sion topic. Students could provide their responses on Padlet about their
related experiences and concern. This could make use of wait time and
lead the students in the session topic. After that, the facilitator summa-
rized previous content in the review activity to anchor their understanding
of the topic before introducing a group presentation with a follow-up quiz
for 40 minutes. Group work activity during the Zoom sessions required
students to work in random groups, using the Zoom Meeting breakout
function, to complete a task related to the presentation to further analyze
the content and applications in authentic contexts. For example, after a
presentation about material evaluation, the students were asked to work in
groups to plan an evaluation. This synchronous group work provided a
model and facilitator support for the students. It could also avoid a free-­
rider phenomenon when only members of the presentation group worked.

Fig. 9.1 A typical lesson structure for a Zoom session

 9 ENHANCING STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN ONLINE COLLABORATIVE… 169

The last activity wrap-up was a whole class activity by the facilitator to
comment or conclude on issues discussed in break-out sessions.

Action and Observation

During the action phase, from Session 3 to Session 11, the facilitator pro-
vided support to groups via email. Some common questions were about
access to materials, difficulty in understanding the materials, or group
work assessment. The facilitator, and also researcher, observed student
activities during the Zoom sessions and took note of emerging issues to
address directly during or after the session. For example, when Group 2
encountered some design issues in their presentation, the facilitator gave
guidelines about how to make effective PowerPoint slides.

Reflection
This phase reflects the effectiveness of the activities and processes imple-
mented in earlier phases and suggests modification for the following cycle
(Burns, 2010). Reflection was based on data from the evaluation survey at
the final session with 2 responses and 20 students’ guided reflections,
which will be analyzed in the finding section.

Findings
This section discusses findings from two main data types to explore learn-
ers’ attitudes toward group work: an evaluation survey at the final session
with 24 responses and 20 students’ guided reflections. Generally, the stu-
dents expressed positive attitudes toward group work, which seemed to be
useful in understanding the course content and developing social and per-
sonal attributes as described in the course objectives.

Findings from Evaluation Survey

An anonymous survey aimed to evaluate the entire course and both asyn-
chronous and synchronous group work. It included some close-ended
standard items examining the course objectives, delivery, and student sat-
isfaction, as summarized in Table 9.4. Item 10 was added to elicit informa-
tion about group work. Meanwhile, open-ended answers were coded to
identify categories and patterns. Overall, the students had positive atti-
tudes toward the course and group work activities. As can be seen in the
170 V. T. T. NHA

Table 9.4 A summary of students’ responses to the evaluation questionnaire

Strongly Agree Disagree Strongly NA Mean
agree (4) (3) (2) disagree
(1)

1. T his course met my 9 14 1 0 0 3.3

expectations.
2. The course was challenging. 12 11 1 0 0 3.5
3. The course provided effective 12 12 0 0 0 3.5
online opportunities for
active participation.
4. My contributions to the 8 16 0 0 0 3.3
course were responded to.
5. The online course design was 8 15 1 0 0 3.3
excellent.
6. The learning activities were 10 13 1 0 0 3.4
clearly explained and covered
the ideas and concepts in the
subject area.
7. The information/course 11 13 0 0 0 3.5
materials provided were
useful.
8. The administration and 6 17 0 0 1 3.1
enrollment procedures of the
course were efficient.
9. Overall, I was satisfied with 13 11 0 0 0 3.5
the quality of this course.
10. Group work is effective. 10 13 1 0 0 3.4

table, 100% of the students were satisfied with the course to some extent.
Some aspects that were evaluated higher were course materials
(mean = 3.5), online opportunities for active participation (mean = 3.5),
challenging courses (mean = 3.5), learning activities (mean = 3.4), and
group work (mean = 3.4). Feedback to students’ contribution and course
design seemed to be less favored while administration and enrollment pro-
cedures gained the lowest score (mean = 3.1).
One respondent was not happy with the course and gave negative scor-
ing on several aspects of the course (design, learning opportunities, and
interest in the course). However, he/she still benefited from the course
and liked the group discussions, as described below:
 9 ENHANCING STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN ONLINE COLLABORATIVE… 171

I am sorry but I am not really interested in the course although I find it use-
ful. It is not easy at all but if I am motivated, I think I can do better. But I
respect and appreciate the different activities that you integrate into the
course. They are challenging and difficult and force me to read and study
more. (EQR13)

Some questions in the evaluation survey specifically examined students’

attitudes toward group work. Out of 2 respondents (95.8%) 23 partici-
pated in both synchronous and asynchronous group work activities. Three
aspects they gained the most from these collaborative activities were course
content understanding (23 selections), discussion skills (23 selections),
and collaboration (22 selections); time management skills and teaching
knowledge were less often observed benefits, making up 58.3% and 66.7%,
respectively. Unfortunately, English skills were the least reported gain in
this English-medium course with only five selections (see Fig. 9.2).
When the respondents were asked to report their favorite aspects of
group work, they listed six areas as summarized in Table 9.5. It seems that
communication was the most popular aspect with 9 mentions, followed by
motivation (6), understanding (5), and critical thinking (4). Collaborative
skills (2) and peer support (2) were two areas with the fewest observed cases.
The respondents also revealed they disliked some aspects of group
work. Although 5 participants out of total 24 respondents deliberately
stated that they could not find any unfavorable aspects of group work,
other respondents reported six areas they disliked about working collab-
oratively. The top-cited feature was time management (6 mentions),

Fig. 9.2 Reported benefits of group work

172 V. T. T. NHA

Table 9.5 Favorite aspects of group work

Aspects Mention Examples from questionnaire respondents’ comments
frequency

Communication 9 We can share our opinions without the limitation of

shame, gender, culture, and also gaps of knowledge
(EQR19)
Motivation 6 My classmates are fantastic; they have a wealth of expertise
from which I may benefit by conversing with them. This
course’s group work activities clearly demonstrated the
value of peer learning (EQR17)
Understanding 5 I like to collaborate with other people, which makes me
understand more about the content of the course. In
addition, I think I benefit from listening to others’
perspectives (EQR15)
Critical thinking 4 We can discuss and see different aspects/ views on 1 issue
(EQR2)
Collaborative 2 I can work with many people with different tasks
skills (EQR22)
Peer support 2 I can exchange ideas and explore areas I am a bit weak at.
(EQR8)

followed by difficult tasks (4 mentions), and participation (3 mentions).

Work allocation, Internet connectivity, and arguments were some unfavor-
able features of group work with one mention each (see Table 9.6).

Findings from the Guided Personal Reflections

After the joint presentations, the students were asked to reflect on their
experience, using guided questions about what they did, how they felt,
what problems they faced, and what benefits they gained from the task. In
all, 20 out of 25 students submitted their reflections, which were qualita-
tively coded and presented under recurring themes: collaboration mecha-
nism, attitudes, and lesson withdrawal.
Most students described collaborative principles in their group work
experience. They could work independently and then meet for feedback or
update. The final product (slides and oral presentations) resulted from
enhanced individual works. One student described how they collaborated
to complete the task:

After receiving the topic, we agreed on a time to plan for the presentation
and did several online meetings before the official presentation before class.
 9 ENHANCING STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN ONLINE COLLABORATIVE… 173

Table 9.6 Unfavorable aspects of group work

Dislike aspects Mention Examples from questionnaire respondents’ comments
frequency

Time 6 I think our time management skills still need to improve, so

management the given time is too short for us (EQR19)
Difficult task 4 It’s not that I detest it; it’s just that we don’t always have
enough time to brainstorm and debate things thoroughly,
especially because the activities are often extremely
challenging for me (EQR17)
I think I need more detailed guidance (sample, template,
ideas) for each task on [Google] Classroom because some of
them are difficult for me to understand and get the right
point. And maybe some feedback from teachers after I submit
the assignment so that I can know whether I meet the
requirements or not (EQR14)
Participation 3 At first, there are some moments when we are shy and not
active in sharing. And also some people tend to talk less even
though they have great ideas (EQR24)
Internet 1 Sometimes Internet disconnection (EQR23)
connectivity
Arguments 1 Sometimes group work activities were not effective as we had
some arguments. And the time was also limited, so we could
not finish the tasks (EQR15)
Work 1 The division of work is not really clear (EQR6)
allocation

I dealt with “content and sequencing”, which was the first part of the chap-
ter. I scrutinized my chapter to understand it at a deep level, before moving
on to the other 2 parts of my teammates. (R2)

They recognized the importance of individual members in the joint

project:

We acknowledged that the strength of the team was the strength of each
individual, so each of us had an equal role in the group work. (R12)

One respondent really appreciated the online mode where collaboration

was effectively supported:

What I enjoyed most in our group work was that I could contact each other
regularly and effectively on Zalo and we could submit all the result tasks
174 V. T. T. NHA

together on Google Drive. I had never experienced this comfortable work-

ing environment before. (R20)

Regarding attitudes, data revealed that the students generally had positive
attitudes, mainly related to two-way communication among members.
Some students commented:

I enjoyed writing the lecture note and having my work commented on by

my teammates the most. They gave me lots of questions, which prompted
me to reflect on the concepts and read more. (R3)

[What I like most about the group work was] the discussion time. We dis-
cussed a lot and worked out many things to make our presentation
better. (R9)

The discussions helped them to solve problems and be engaged in the

materials at greater depth as described by two other students:

We not only learn how to cooperate and collaborate but how to solve prob-
lems together. For example, when I found supplementary reading materials,
I was confused by different sources on the internet. TC supported me to
find suitable materials for that. (R18)

When we saw each other’s work and then gave feedback. Each of us learned
from those comments (and other parts of the presentation) and tried to
make them better. (R5)

Another plus of group work that the students reported was social support
from their peers:

Having my friends talking to me and commenting on my notes makes the

work much more bearable and I think the feeling is shared among our group
members. (R3)

This helped them develop personally and academically:

Through the discussion process, I have been amazed by others’ critical

thinking and innovative ideas. Instead of accepting everything even though
it was not really a good one as I was afraid of offending people, my group
 9 ENHANCING STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN ONLINE COLLABORATIVE… 175

mates have taught me to question, not to spot others’ errors but to come up
with an improved version with the whole group. (R6)

However, some negative experiences were also reported regarding time

management, group conflict, and online interactions:

[One problem was] scheduling a group meeting. Since we were all working
on the weekdays and attending classes on the weekends, it was not easy to
arrange a group meeting. And even when we did find an available time slot,
something came up, and we had to move the meeting to another day. (R12)

It was unavoidable that members would have opposing viewpoints during

the presentation process. We had some disagreements about the sub-titles or
some points in the content. (R11)

Online teamwork was also a hindrance because we don’t have face-to-face

meetings, so we’re still a bit apprehensive and lack motivation. (R15)

Luckily, they managed to overcome these problems and withdrew practi-

cal lessons about collaboration, time management, and presentation:

First, I think that I learned how to cooperate and collaborate with my team
members, even at first, we were all strangers. Second, I learn how to improve
my critical thinking by giving and sending feedback from my team members.
Last but not least, we learn how to solve some problems which happened
such as time management or different opinions. (R13)

We still missed the deadline for individual work that we set before. As a
result, we just had a little bit of time to improve the final version and rehearse
our scripts before presentation day. We also run out of time in our presenta-
tion, then we had to go through quickly the last part of it. We did learn from
this case that we need to use our time wisely and commit to the deadline and
the time frame. (R10)

Some expressed that they would not hesitate to be engaged in future

group work activities when they gained these practical lessons:

If I have a group work assignment again, I would like to take more time
discussing with my teammates and encouraging them to share their difficul-
ties so that I can support them on time and have no rush for deadlines. (R4)
176 V. T. T. NHA

If I have a group work assignment again, I really love to meet face-to-face

because I believe that offline discussions can evoke more ideas. (R12)

In short, findings from both the evaluation survey and guided reflections
consistently revealed mostly positive group work experiences. The partici-
pants benefited from personal development (communication and collab-
orative skills), academic gains (critical thinking, understanding), and social
support (peer support, motivation). They, however, reported some chal-
lenges in time management, technical glitches, participation, group har-
mony, work allocation, and task difficulty.

Discussion

Tools to Support Online Collaborative Learning

The study revealed that students enrolled in the course could operate mul-
tiple collaborative tools for different communication purposes. They could
use Zoom meetings for real-time communication, Zalo and Padlet for
near-synchronous communication, and Google educational tools
(Classroom, Google Docs, Google Sheets) for asynchronous information
exchange. The participants did not report any challenges in using techni-
cal tools to complete the online collaborative tasks, involving strategic
planning, task execution, reflection, and adaptation of a group. This
enabled social-emotional interactions, leading to better learning outcomes
(Huang & Lajoie, 2023). Occasionally, the students experienced unstable
Internet connectivity and Google access as in the case of a Chinese stu-
dent, but it did not hinder intragroup communication and their joy of
two-way communication via technology tools. This was an advantage for
organizing online collaboration for this group of Vietnamese learners. The
finding confirms the relationships between online tools, emotional sup-
port, and effective collaborative work as highlighted in Hernández-Sellés
et al. (2019).

Student Participation in Online Group Work

In this project, the students demonstrated active participation in the
course collaborative activities with three types of interactions: teacher–stu-
dent interaction, content–student interaction, and student–student inter-
action. The joint presentation provided ample opportunities for peer
 9 ENHANCING STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN ONLINE COLLABORATIVE… 177

communication. They discussed how to complete the task, work alloca-

tion, and feedback to other members’ work, and even life stories. The
reflective notes show abundant evidence of this collaborative process and
students’ enhanced learning, which have been described as “socially shared
regulation of learning (SSRL)” (Huang & Lajoie, 2023, p. 1). This type
of interaction is critical for effective collaboration with proven beneficial
effects on both cognitive knowledge gain and emotional interactions
(Huang & Lajoie, 2023).
However, it seemed that when the students worked on collaborative
tasks that required open answers as recommended by Stephens and
Roberts (2017) to facilitate joint efforts, they felt less confident in their
peer authority in course content. They found the tasks challenging and
failed to find the answers only with peer support. They preferred to receive
sample answers or feedback from the facilitator about their discussion
results.

Students Perceived Benefits of Online Collaborative Learning

The students generally held positive attitudes toward group work. Their
course satisfaction was rated relatively high and expressed their enjoyment
in collaborating with their classmates. It was evident in the study that
group work led to personal development, academic achievement, and
mental health support. The findings again support findings from previous
studies (Bennett, 2004; Davis et al., 2022; Graham & Misanchuk, 2004;
Huang & Lajoie, 2023; Koh & Hill, 2009). It was noted that the stu-
dents’ experiences illustrated the relationships among these factors. When
they were emotionally supported by group members, they were open to
sharing and accepting alternative perspectives and individual differences.
In that way, they developed collaborative skills and critical thinking, which
helped them to achieve better understanding and task completion.

Students’ Perceived Challenges of Online Collaborative Learning

In this project, students reported several hindrances of online collabora-
tive tasks. The most concern was time management to complete the task.
There could be several explanations for this response. First, most of them
had full-time jobs and spent only the weekends on the course. Second, on
the timetable, the students had two three-hour sessions per day, which left
little preparation time for group work. Another challenge observed was
178 V. T. T. NHA

task difficulty. The participants were overwhelmed with the information

about the course. This was partly explained by the needs analysis at the
first session. Most of the participants were in their first five years of teach-
ing and had never been involved in designing or developing a syllabus.
Interestingly, participation was reported as a challenge in the evaluation
survey, but not present in the reflection note about fixed group arrange-
ment. It could be explained that participation was probably a perceived
problem of a random group setup which did not allow them to select
members they knew or obtained the emotional support they needed (Koh
& Hill, 2009). An alternative explanation was that random groups involved
more members, which limited interaction time as reported in Harsch et al.
(2021). To take advantage of collaborative learning, the students are
expected to adjust their roles and enhance their self-directed learning skills.

Conclusion and Implications

This action research project has examined a group work innovation in an
online English-medium class with 25 postgraduate students at a public
university. It aimed to enhance student participation in online collabora-
tive learning activities, using a four-step design framework for facilitating
collaboration in online groups (Stephens & Roberts, 2017). The students
were asked to complete two types of group work, asynchronous and syn-
chronous. The asynchronous activity involved students in fixed groups to
make a joint presentation while the synchronous group work arranged
them in random discussion groups. Data were collected from students’
work, reflection notes, and an evaluation survey during the course.
Findings revealed that the planning framework was helpful to create posi-
tive learning experiences via these collaborative activities. Some benefits
reported were personal development (communication and collaborative
skills), academic gains (critical thinking and understanding), and social
support (peer support and motivation). They, however, reported some
challenges in time management, technical glitches, participation, group
harmony, work allocation, and task difficulty.
As the study was conducted in a natural setting of an online postgradu-
ate course in a public university in Vietnam, it had some research limita-
tions. First, it had to follow the official guidance for online learning of the
institution such as time allocation and assessment. The students had to
take two 3-hour sessions per day, which might have affected the time avail-
able for group work and the effectiveness of the learning activities. Second,
 9 ENHANCING STUDENT PARTICIPATION IN ONLINE COLLABORATIVE… 179

as the course was entirely implemented online in the emergency of the

Covid-19 outbreak, little technical support was available to monitor all
group work interactions and analyzed other aspects of group work. Third,
this group of adult learners had good English proficiency and did not
experience technical or linguistic barriers in group communication.
Caution, however, should be noted to other learner populations.
The study offers some implications for online educators to effectively
facilitate collaborative learning. First, the course facilitators should create
ample interaction opportunities, which are critical to achieving collabora-
tive learning benefits. This can be done through the application of multi-
ple online communication technologies that encourage both asynchronous
and synchronous communication and the adoption of a four-step frame-
work for facilitating collaboration in online groups (Stephens & Roberts,
2017). Second, students should be scaffolded for completing open-ended
tasks which are beneficial for group discussions but might increase the task
difficulty when the facilitator cannot provide timely and extensive support.
For example, some sample products or detailed instruction worksheets
(Cortázar et al., 2022) can be provided for performance tasks or the facili-
tator gives feedback on discussion questions. Third, for effective group
work, time is a critical factor. Learners should be given adequate time for
outside-classroom group work as well as in-class discussions. Unfortunately,
the evidence in this study was insufficient to recommend measurable
amounts for specific collaborative task types. In future studies, it might be
practical to examine the effects of different group dynamics including time
and English usage on students’ learning and the effects of group work in
a blended mode. This could be a new tendency in future classrooms where
more language teachers will be working with accessible online technolo-
gies (Güzer & Caner, 2014).

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 CHAPTER 10

Revitalizing Language Education:

An Exploratory Study on the Innovative Use
of Mobile Applications in English Language
Teaching at a State University in Vietnam

Nghi Tin Tran, Phuc Huu Tran, and Vu Phi Ho Pham

Introduction
Language education has undergone significant transformations due to
technological innovations and constantly evolving educational approaches
and methodologies in recent decades. The outdated teacher-focused mode

N. T. Tran (*)
Faculty of Foreign Languages, Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and
Trade, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
e-mail: nghitt@huit.edu.vn
P. H. Tran
Faculty of English, University of Foreign Language Studies,
The University of Da Nang, Da Nang City, Vietnam
e-mail: thphuc@ufl.udn.vn

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 183

Switzerland AG 2024
L. Phung et al. (eds.), Innovation in Language Learning and
Teaching, New Language Learning and Teaching Environments,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46080-7_10
184 N. T. TRAN ET AL.

of language instruction has been supplanted by learner-focused techniques

that prioritize autonomy, involvement, and communication (Mayer, 2017).
Facilitating successful language acquisition remains a significant chal-
lenge for language educators. Insufficient student motivation, inadequate
opportunities for interaction, and outdated teaching methods are some of
the difficulties they encounter (Kukulska-Hulme & Shield, 2008).
Nevertheless, the emergence of mobile language learning applications
introduces a potential solution to these hurdles. These apps provide new
prospects for both language learners and educators as they have been rec-
ognized as effective tools in improving language acquisition outcomes
(Klimova et al., 2023). Unlike traditional instructional models, mobile
apps offer unique advantages such as personalized interaction and flexible
learning experiences. Additionally, these apps can facilitate autonomous
learning and self-directed practice, which play an integral role in successful
language acquisition (Metruk, 2021).
The incorporation of mobile applications in English language teaching
(ELT) is a relatively new research area, particularly in the Vietnamese con-
text. To bridge this gap, this study investigated the potential of mobile
apps to enhance language learning and teaching. The study used a ques-
tionnaire and focus group interviews with language teachers and students
to gain insights into their experiences and perception of the use of mobile
apps in language learning. This chapter presents the study findings, high-
lighting the advantages of mobile apps in improving students’ English
language proficiency, motivation, and involvement.

Literature Review

Traditional Language Education and its Challenges

Traditional language education has been criticized for having limited
interaction, low student motivation, and outdated pedagogical approaches
(Bax, 2011; Kacetl & Klímová, 2019; Warschauer & Matuchniak, 2010).
One of the main limitations of traditional language education is the focus

V. P. H. Pham
Faculty of Foreign Languages, Van Lang University,
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
e-mail: ho.pvp@vlu.edu.vn
 10 REVITALIZING LANGUAGE EDUCATION: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY… 185

on the rote memorization of grammar rules and vocabulary rather than

the development of communicative competence (Nunan, 1991). This
approach often results in students lacking confidence in their ability to use
the language in real-life situations (Larsen-Freeman & Anderson, 2011).
Regarding the lack of student motivation, the traditional classroom set-
ting can leave students feeling passive, causing them to disengage, as they
have little opportunity for interaction or collaboration (Bax, 2011; Van
et al., 2021). Additionally, the lack of relevance to students’ interests and
daily lives may further contribute to their lack of motivation
(Dörnyei, 1998).
It is clear that the traditional approach to teaching languages has several
drawbacks, and it will need to be updated to better engage learners and
improve instructional effectiveness. Language education is currently char-
acterized by a shift toward student-centered approaches, which prioritize
learner autonomy, engagement, and interaction (Mohammadi et al.,
2023). As a result of technological advancements, language learners can
now access authentic target language materials and communicate with
native speakers of that language more easily. Modern learners, who are
increasingly tech savvy and expect personalized, interactive learning expe-
riences, may not appreciate outdated teaching methods. Therefore, it is
important for educators to innovate their teaching methods and incorpo-
rate new technologies into their instruction.

Mobile Applications in Language Education

The use of mobile applications is a burgeoning innovation in language
teaching and learning, as evidenced by its successes (Huertas-Abril et al.,
2023; Zheng & Warschauer, 2015). With such apps, students can experi-
ence language learning in more engaging and interactive ways, which ulti-
mately boosts their motivation and confidence in speaking (Akçayır &
Akçayır, 2017; Castañeda & Cho, 2016; Haleem et al., 2022). Intelligent
tutoring systems and adaptive algorithms found in language learning apps
cater to individual needs and preferences (Kukulska-Hulme, 2009), while
gamification features like points, badges, and leaderboards boost learner
engagement and motivation (Burston, 2014; Chinnery, 2006; Luo,
2023). With increased interaction, customization, and adaptability, these
apps provide a unique learning experience. The independent study and
self-guided practice that they offer present students with an opportunity
to improve their skills.
186 N. T. TRAN ET AL.

Common learning activities in mobile apps are vocabulary develop-

ment, linguistic games, and pronunciation exercises (Boroughani et al.,
2023), which allow students to study at their preferred pace and in accor-
dance with their unique learning preferences (Zheng & Warschauer,
2015). Research conducted by Chen and Hsu (2020) highlights the effec-
tiveness of mobile apps in building vocabulary and improving listening
skills, emphasizing their positive impact on language education. Kholis
(2021) investigates the role of mobile apps in providing pronunciation
guidance, demonstrating that apps with pronunciation features signifi-
cantly improve learners’ pronunciation skills and boost their confidence in
speaking. Furthermore, studies by Liu et al. (2016) and Li et al. (2022)
focusing on the impact of mobile apps on specific language learning set-
tings, such as Chinese, Japanese, and English language instruction, respec-
tively report the effectiveness and potential of mobile apps in language
learning in these contexts.
Collectively, these studies provide evidence supporting the effectiveness
of mobile apps as tools for language acquisition. However, despite the
advantages, there are limitations to consider, particularly in terms of qual-
ity of the materials and instruction provided to students (Kukulska-Hulme
& Shield, 2008). In addition, while mobile apps are valuable tools, they
cannot fully replace the benefits of face-to-face communication and
immersion in the target language (Warschauer & Matuchniak, 2010).
Another challenge is finding apps that align with educational goals (Akçayır
& Akçayır, 2017). Additionally, the effectiveness of mobile apps in improv-
ing learning outcomes may be dependent on external factors such as qual-
ity educational resources and teacher support (Pechenkina et al., 2017).
Looking to the future, personalized AI/ML-based language learning
apps offer promising opportunities (Baars et al., 2022). Integrating virtual
and augmented realities into language learning apps could further enhance
motivation and involvement (Punar et al., 2022; Santos et al., 2013).
However, concerns related to the quality and effectiveness of these appli-
cations call for further research into the incorporation of mobile apps in
language learning and teaching. This study presents findings regarding
teacher and students’ experience with mobile apps in English language
teaching at a public university in Vietnam.
 10 REVITALIZING LANGUAGE EDUCATION: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY… 187

The Present Study

The Objectives of The Study

Our study aimed to explore teachers and students’ experience of using
mobile apps in ELT at a Vietnamese university. The following research
questions guided our investigation:

RQ1: What are the perceptions of students and teachers regarding the
benefits and challenges of using mobile apps for language learning?
RQ2: Considering the benefits and challenges identified, how can the uti-
lization of mobile apps in ELT be optimized to enhance English profi-
ciency, student motivation, and engagement both in Vietnam and
other contexts?

Methodology
This study employs mixed methods to investigate the utilization of mobile
applications in English Language Teaching at a public university in
Vietnam. It gathers both quantitative and qualitative data to evaluate the
experience of integrating apps in language instruction, with a specific
emphasis on their benefits for student engagement, learning outcomes,
and teacher satisfaction.

Participants
The study included three English language instructors and a group of 166
students who actively utilized mobile apps in their language learning. The
students were selected through a selective sampling method from English
language courses at a Vietnamese public university. This means that instead
of selecting participants randomly, the researchers specifically recruited
students who showed a particular interest in using mobile apps for lan-
guage learning.
Similarly, the instructors were chosen based on their enthusiasm and
expertise in integrating mobile apps into language education. Rather than
randomly selecting any English language instructors, the researchers
deliberately asked those who demonstrated a keen interest in incorporat-
ing mobile apps as a teaching tool. Table 10.1 shows the specific informa-
tion of the two groups of participants.
188 N. T. TRAN ET AL.

Table 10.1 Demographic

Teachers (n = 3) Students (n = 166)
characteristics of
participants Gender 2 male, 1 female 40 males, 126 females
Age 35–48 years 18–25 years
Major English language English language
Experience 5–10 years N/A

Survey
Exploring language student experiences, attitudes, and perceptions of
mobile app usage, the study used a survey consisting of online closed- and
open-ended questions. The inquiry spanned multiple topic areas, includ-
ing mobile app frequency and duration of use, benefits and challenges
experienced with mobile app language learning, and the convergence of
emerging technologies with language learning apps (see Appendix 1).

 ocus Group Interviews

F
Two focus groups were formed: one consisted of three teachers, and the
second included six students. The focus group discussions comprised
semi-structured questions delving into the participants’ experiences, view-
points, and impressions of the use of mobile apps for language learning
(see Appendix 2). The focus group interviews also enabled participants to
give their perspectives, insights, and recommendations for better utiliza-
tion of mobile apps in language education.

Data Analysis
The collected data from the survey and focus group discussions were sub-
jected to both quantitative and qualitative analyses. Descriptive statistics
were employed to summarize and present the data. Subsequently, content
examination was conducted to identify and categorize patterns that
emerged from the qualitative data. Finally, a theme-based analysis was uti-
lized to uncover underlying patterns and connections within the data.
This comprehensive approach allowed for a robust exploration of the par-
ticipants’ perspectives and experiences.

Ethical Considerations
The study adhered to ethical principles and obtained informed consent
from all involved individuals. Participants’ confidentiality and privacy were
 10 REVITALIZING LANGUAGE EDUCATION: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY… 189

safeguarded, and their personal details remain undisclosed. Furthermore,

participants were made aware of their ability to opt out of the study when-
ever they chose.

Results

Overview of Participants and Data Collected

A total of 3 language teachers and 166 students participated in the study.
The majority of the students were females (76%) aged between 18 and 25
years (cf. Table 10.1). The teachers had an average of seven years of expe-
rience teaching English. The data collected from the participants included
information on the frequency of mobile app usage, the most useful mobile
apps for language learning, the advantages and disadvantages of mobile
app usage, and the extent to which mobile apps improve language learn-
ing outcomes.

Results from the Survey

 requency of Mobile App Usage

F
Table 10.2 revealed that 72% of the students reported using mobile apps
either sometimes, often, or always as part of their courses or on their own.
Among the teachers, all of them reported using mobile apps for teaching,
with 67% reporting using them often or always. The most frequently men-
tioned mobile apps were Duolingo (67%), Quizlet (49%), and Memrise
(41%) (see Table 10.3).
The participants’ responses on the frequency and average duration of
mobile app utilization are portrayed in Table 10.4.
Table 10.4 shows that mobile apps are regular feature practice of most
language learners and their instructors, with both groups spending around
2 hours each week utilizing these applications.

Table 10.2 Frequency of mobile app usage

Never Rarely Sometimes Often Always

Students 28% 12% 25% 22% 13%

Teachers 0% 33% 0% 33% 33%
190 N. T. TRAN ET AL.

Table 10.3 Most

Frequency
useful mobile apps for
language learning Duolingo 67%
Quizlet 49%
Memrise 41%
Other apps 24%

Table 10.4 Frequency and duration of mobile app usage in language learning
Weekly basis Average duration (hours/week)

Language teachers Majority 2

Language students Majority 2

 xtent to Which Mobile Apps Can Improve Language

E
Learning Outcomes
The participants’ perceptions of the extent to which mobile apps can
enhance language learning outcomes were assessed. Table 10.5 presents
the findings of the students’ and teachers’ responses to each of these
questions.
The findings from Table 10.5 reveal a predominantly positive percep-
tion of mobile apps for language learning among both students and teach-
ers. A significant portion of students (48%) and all the three teachers
(100%) find mobile apps to be very useful for language learning.
Additionally, 37% of students consider the apps somewhat useful, further
highlighting their utility in supporting language learning.
The study also indicates that mobile apps are perceived as effective tools
for improving language skills. A notable 35% of students and 67% of teach-
ers believe the apps to be very effective, while 50% of students and 33% of
teachers rate them as somewhat effective. These findings underscore the
recognition of the positive impact of mobile apps on language learning
outcomes by both students and teachers.
Furthermore, the results demonstrate that mobile apps are highly
engaging for learners. A significant 43% of students and all teachers (100%)
find the apps to be very engaging, and an additional 37% of students per-
ceive them as somewhat engaging. This indicates that mobile apps success-
fully capture learners’ attention and interest, potentially contributing to an
engaging language learning experience.
 10 REVITALIZING LANGUAGE EDUCATION: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY… 191

Table 10.5 Perceived improvement of language learning outcomes through

mobile app usage
Question Response Students (%) Teachers (%)
(n = 166) (n = 3)

11. Usefulness Very useful 48 100

Somewhat useful 37 0
Not very useful 9 0
Not at all useful 6 0
12. Effectiveness Very effective 35 67
Somewhat effective 50 33
Not very effective 8 0
Not at all effective 7 0
13. Engagement Very engaging 43 100
Somewhat engaging 37 0
Not very engaging 15 0
Not at all engaging 5 0
14. Adaptability Very well 34 100
Somewhat well 46 0
Not very well 12 0
Not at all well 8 0
15. Integration Very well 25 100
Somewhat well 60 0
Not very well 9 0
Not at all well 6 0

Additionally, the study highlights the adaptability of mobile apps to

cater to individual learning paces and styles. Notably, 34% of students and
all teachers (100%) rate the adaptability as very well, while 46% of students
perceive it as somewhat well. These findings emphasize the apps’ ability to
accommodate diverse learning preferences and individual needs.
Moreover, the findings indicate that mobile apps effectively integrate
emerging technologies, such as AI and gamification, into the language
learning experience. Specifically, 25% of students and all teachers (100%)
rate the integration as very well, and 60% of students perceive it as some-
what well. This suggests that mobile apps successfully leverage modern
technologies to potentially enhance the language learning process.
Both students and teachers acknowledge the usefulness, effectiveness,
engagement, adaptability, and integration of mobile apps as valuable assets
in enhancing language learning outcomes. These predominantly positive
perceptions underscore the potential of mobile apps to play a significant
192 N. T. TRAN ET AL.

role in facilitating effective and engaging language learning experiences

for learners and educators alike.
Table 10.6 presents the advantages and disadvantages of mobile app
usage as reported by the study participants.
The advantages highlighted by the participants include increased moti-
vation (81%), flexibility in learning (72%), and improved access to learning
resources (65%). On the other hand, the participants also identified several
disadvantages, such as limited interaction with teachers (49%), limited
interaction with other students (47%), and potential distractions (41%).
These findings showed that proper balance between independent learning
and interaction with teachers and other students must be achieved to opti-
mize the effectiveness of mobile app usage.
When asked about more specific benefits that language learning apps
provide, the majority of students reported the following benefits: increased
motivation (81%), convenience (76%), and flexibility in learning (72%),
personalization (68%), adaptive learning (60%), and self-directed learning
(57%). These findings suggest that mobile apps can enhance the language
learning experience significantly by addressing individual needs and pref-
erences while offering more autonomy in the learning process.
However, participants also identified further challenges that may hinder
learning outcomes. The most commonly reported challenges include lack
of engagement (55%), difficulty in retaining information (48%), mobile
apps not being challenging enough (37%), and insufficient feedback on
progress (31%). These concerns highlight areas for improvement in the
design of language learning apps and how they should be used in language
instruction.

Table 10.6 Advantages and disadvantages of mobile app usage

Advantages Disadvantages

Increased motivation 81% N/A

Flexibility in learning 72% N/A
Improved access to learning resources 65% N/A
Limited interaction with teachers N/A 49%
Limited interaction with other students N/A 47%
Potential distractions N/A 41%
 10 REVITALIZING LANGUAGE EDUCATION: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY… 193

I ntegration of Emerging Technologies

Regarding the integration of emerging technologies, the majority of par-
ticipants expressed a desire for the integration of emerging technologies,
such as AI (74%) and AR (62%), into mobile apps for language learning.
The participants believed that these technologies would enhance the
learning experience and offer innovative ways of learning. The findings
suggest that developers and educators should explore the potential of
incorporating emerging technologies to improve the effectiveness of
mobile apps in language education.

 esults from the Focus Group Interviews

R
In addition to the survey, focus group interviews were conducted with
three teachers and six students to better understand their experiences with
mobile applications in English language teaching. The focus group inter-
views with the teachers were conducted separately from those with the
students.

 eacher Focus Group Interviews

T
The following themes emerged from the teachers’ focus group interviews.
Benefits of mobile apps in ELT: According to the teachers interviewed,
using mobile apps in English language teaching has various advantages.
These benefits consist of enriching the learning experience, boosting stu-
dent engagement, and accommodating personalization and individualiza-
tion. Using Duolingo and Quizlet mobile apps has been found to boost
student engagement, according to Teacher 1. These apps come with gami-
fication features that make learning enjoyable and therefore increase par-
ticipation rates. Individualization through mobile apps has been witnessed
by Teacher 2. Teacher 2 has noticed that through apps like Memrise, cus-
tomization is allowed, leading to a more personalized learning journey for
students. This individualization eventually leads to better engagement and
improved effectiveness of learning experiences.
Challenges in implementing mobile app usage: The integration of mobile
app usage has faced numerous challenges for teachers. Access to technol-
ogy was oftentimes limited, and integrating apps into lesson plans has
been difficult. Additionally, due to the absence of necessary training and
support, the implementation process has proven arduous. Teacher 2
voiced his agreement, “Proper training and support are lacking, and inte-
grating apps into lesson plans and limited technology access pose some of
the challenges at hand.”
194 N. T. TRAN ET AL.

App selection and creation: The successful implementation of mobile

app usage in ELT was reportedly contingent on proper app selection and
instructional material creation, as teacher feedback indicated. Teacher 3
emphasizes the significance of choosing suitable apps and crafting effective
instructional materials to guarantee the triumphant use of mobile
apps in ELT.

S tudent Focus Group Interviews

The following themes emerged from the student focus group interviews:
Benefits of mobile apps in language learning: Mobile apps, as per student
feedback, boosted motivation, allowed for self-directed learning, and cre-
ated an immersive and engaging learning environment. “I find my motiva-
tion to learn languages really boosted when using interactive and engaging
mobile apps.” Student 1 expressed their enjoyment in using apps to learn
languages.
Challenges in using mobile apps: In their feedback, the students brought
up various obstacles they encountered when utilizing mobile apps: from
glitches with the technology, to insufficient guidance and help, to being
sidetracked by other diversions. “Offering opportunities for self-directed
learning, which is great,” Student 2 commented. “But there are some
challenges that come with it, such as the lack of guidance and support, as
well as technical issues.”
App features: Providing multimedia content, customization options,
and interactive exercises were the favored features of mobile apps among
the students. “Apps that offer multimedia content, interactive exercises,
and customization options are my favored ones, although they can be
distracting,” said Student 3.
Integration of mobile apps into ELT: In a systematic and purposeful
manner, with clear learning objectives and assessment criteria, the students
were of the opinion that incorporation of mobile apps in ELT was essen-
tial. Mobile apps in ELT can be maximized by integrating them systemati-
cally and purposefully. Assessment criteria and clear learning objectives are
integral in this process according to Student 4.
In summary, support and training are crucial when considering the
implementation of mobile apps in language education, as noted by both
teachers and students. While acknowledging its potential, the integration
of mobile apps in ELT demands a well-planned selection process, system-
atic incorporation into lesson plans, and support for educators and
 10 REVITALIZING LANGUAGE EDUCATION: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY… 195

learners alike. Overall, the study underscores the importance of careful

consideration when integrating mobile apps into language education.

Discussion
In recent years, the emergence of mobile language learning apps has
gained popularity. These technologies have been widely embraced by lan-
guage educators and learners (Kukulska-Hulme, 2009; Punar et al., 2022).
Focusing on both the teaching and learning experiences, this study sought
to gain insights into teachers’ and students’ attitudes, perceptions, and
experiences regarding the use of language learning apps. The study inves-
tigated the current app usage and integration of up-and-coming technolo-
gies, allowing for a comprehensive understanding of both teacher and
student perspectives.
Throughout this study, we collected a variety of perspectives on the use
of mobile apps in language learning through focus group interviews.
These findings further support previous research by Burston (2014) and
Stockwell and Hubbard (2013) in that teachers acknowledged the bene-
fits of mobile apps, such as increased student motivation and engagement,
but also expressed the challenges of evaluating progress and ensuring
effective app usage. Meanwhile, students praised mobile apps for their fun
and engaging approach to language learning, leading to increased motiva-
tion to learn.
Consistent with previous studies (Chen et al., 2018; Chen & John,
2016; Chen & Hsu, 2020), focus group participants generally expressed
optimism toward emerging technologies in mobile language learning
apps. They believed that these advancements could optimize learning,
offering novel approaches that could greatly enhance the learning experi-
ence. However, the importance of striking a balance between face-to-face
interaction and technology was also emphasized, as technology alone
could not supersede the value of human interaction and personal
connections.
Within the survey, a substantial portion of students and instructors uti-
lizing mobile apps in their language programs on a frequent basis were
reported. Feedback indicated that these devices contribute to learning by
increasing interest and making it more accommodating, which reinforces
prior research (Burston, 2014; Chen et al., 2018; Stockwell &
Hubbard, 2013).
196 N. T. TRAN ET AL.

Recommendations

Current Problems in English Language Teaching in Vietnam

and the Call for Using Mobile Applications in Teaching
In Vietnam, the traditional approach to language teaching predominantly
relies on grammar and vocabulary drills, which have their limitations. To
enhance English language learning in this context, the incorporation of
mobile applications presents a logical solution. These apps offer interactive
and stimulating content, making the learning process simpler and more
engaging. By providing learners the freedom to access these resources
beyond the confines of the classroom, mobile apps can serve as a valuable
tool for supplementary education and self-directed learning. The adapt-
ability of these apps allows for personalized learning experiences tailored
to individual needs, ensuring a more effective learning process. Moreover,
the immediate feedback feature of mobile apps enables learners to quickly
identify and rectify their mistakes, facilitating their language development.
The study emphasizes several benefits of mobile apps in language learning.

Procedures to Use Mobile Apps to Teach a Foreign Language

in a Classroom Setting
The use of mobile apps in language learning has the potential to revolu-
tionize the way we teach and learn. These platforms offer greater interac-
tivity and flexibility, which can lead to more effective and engaging learning
experiences. We will discuss the steps involved in using mobile apps to
teach foreign languages in a classroom setting based on the findings of this
study, our experience as educators, and existing literature. We will begin
by discussing the importance of aligning mobile apps with the specific
goals and objectives of the language course. We will then explain how to
research and select suitable mobile apps as well as how to introduce these
apps to students. Finally, we will discuss how to incorporate mobile apps
into classroom activities and monitor and evaluate students’ progress.

S tep 1: Identify the Goals and Objectives of the Course

The first step in using mobile apps to teach a foreign language is to iden-
tify the specific goals and objectives of the course. What are the specific
skills and knowledge that students are expected to acquire by the end of
the course? Once the goals and objectives have been identified, it is then
 10 REVITALIZING LANGUAGE EDUCATION: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY… 197

possible to select mobile apps that align with these goals. For example, if
the goal of the course is to improve students’ speaking skills, then mobile
apps that focus on speaking exercises and conversation practice would be
suitable. Similarly, if the goal of the course is to improve students’ vocabu-
lary knowledge, then mobile apps that focus on vocabulary games and
flashcards would be suitable.

S tep 2: Research and Select Suitable Mobile Apps

There are a wide variety of mobile apps available for language learning.
Some apps focus on specific aspects of language learning, such as listening,
speaking, grammar, vocabulary, and reading. Other apps offer a more
comprehensive approach to language learning.
When researching and selecting mobile apps, it is important to consider
the following factors:

• The specific goals and objectives of the course

• The age and level of the students
• The learning style of the students
• The technical capabilities of the students
• The cost of the apps

S tep 3: Introduce Mobile Apps to Students

To effectively introduce students to chosen mobile apps, it’s key to pro-
vide the right instruction. Demonstrations or tutorial sessions can both
work well, as long as students can access the apps. It’s worth noting that
different schools have different policies on this, with some asking students
to bring their own devices and others offering them on site. Regardless,
app introduction is a valuable part of the process to minimize technical
difficulties and distractions.

S tep 4: Incorporate Mobile Apps into Classroom Activities

Students’ learning experience can be elevated with mobile app utilization
in classroom activities. In-class activities or homework can be supple-
mented with mobile app-assigned exercises and quizzes by teachers.
Language skill enhancement can also be achieved through group activities
where students collaboratively use mobile apps. For example, the ESLA
app helps students improve English pronunciation through immediate
feedback. The teacher may introduce vocabulary related to a theme and
provide meanings and example sentences, and students use the app to
198 N. T. TRAN ET AL.

access phonetic transcriptions and audio pronunciations. They practice

individually, record themselves, and get peer feedback. Classroom discus-
sions encourage sharing experiences and challenges. A fun pronunciation
game with an app rewards accuracy. Follow-up homework includes pro-
nunciation exercises with reminders and progress tracking. This integrated
approach enriches students’ pronunciation skills interactively and
effectively.

S tep 5: Monitor and Evaluate Students’ Progress

When utilizing mobile apps within the classroom, keeping tabs on and
assessing students’ progress is critical. The data extracted from the mobile
apps allows instructors to observe their students’ success rates, enabling
them to single out deficiencies within the students’ academic performance
and edify accordingly. With the information at their disposal, they can
cater to each student’s individual learning needs and offer constructive
feedback.

Tips for Encouraging Students and Teachers to Use Mobile Apps

The use of mobile apps in foreign language teaching has gained significant
attention as a promising approach to enhance language learning out-
comes. However, successful implementation of this pedagogical tool
requires concerted efforts from both teachers and students. In this regard,
this chapter presents practical tips and recommendations for guiding
teachers and students in maximizing the benefits of mobile app integration
in language education.

 ip 1: Encouraging Student Engagement through

T
Gamification Incentives
One crucial aspect of fostering successful app integration lies in motivating
students to actively engage with language learning applications. Leveraging
the principles of gamification, as proposed by Hamari et al. (2014), teach-
ers can create fun and interactive activities in language learning apps to
spark students’ interest. Gamified features can be used to encourage regu-
lar app usage, increasing student enthusiasm. Additional rewards can also
be provided to motivate students further and keep them engaged over time.
 10 REVITALIZING LANGUAGE EDUCATION: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY… 199

 ip 2: Empowering Teachers through App-focused Training

T
To optimize the quality of language instruction, it is imperative that edu-
cators receive comprehensive training on utilizing mobile apps effectively.
Workshops and online courses tailored to the integration of language
learning apps can play a pivotal role in equipping teachers with the neces-
sary skills and knowledge. As noted in a report by Samson and Collins
(2012), such training has been identified as a critical component in foster-
ing effective language education. Ensuring that teachers are well versed in
leveraging app features to complement their teaching methodologies
enables a more seamless incorporation of technology in the classroom.

 ip 3: Synergizing Mobile Apps with Traditional Teaching Methods

T
A successful integration of mobile apps within language education involves
leveraging the strengths of both technology and traditional teaching
approaches. Li et al. (2022) highlighted the significance of gamification
incentives in motivating regular app usage among language learners. By
integrating fun and interactive tools, teachers can inspire a deeper sense of
enthusiasm among students. By thoughtfully aligning app-based activities
with the overall curriculum, teachers can further enhance the learning
experience and encourage learners to actively participate in language
learning.

 ip 4: Selecting Appropriate Language Learning Apps

T
The efficacy of mobile app integration significantly depends on the selec-
tion of appropriate applications specifically designed for language learn-
ing. As emphasized in a study conducted by Li et al. (2022), language
learning apps that encompass grammar lessons, vocabulary exercises, and
pronunciation practice have demonstrated remarkable potential in improv-
ing language learning outcomes. Teachers and students should prioritize
apps that cater explicitly to language education to maximize the benefits
of technology in the learning process.

 ip 5: Encouraging Students to Monitor Language Learning Progress

T
with App Tracking Features
To improve language proficiency, it’s essential to regularly assess strengths
and weaknesses. Language-learning apps often come with tracking fea-
tures that can be incredibly helpful in achieving this goal. Teachers can
encourage students to make it a habit to use these tools and monitor their
progress over time. By keeping track of their performance, they can
200 N. T. TRAN ET AL.

identify areas that need more practice and focus, leading to more effective
language learning.
The current problems in English language teaching in Vietnam call for
the use of mobile applications to enhance language learning. The tradi-
tional approach in Vietnam primarily relies on grammar and vocabulary
drills, but the incorporation of mobile apps can provide interactive and
stimulating content, making learning more engaging and flexible. Mobile
apps offer the freedom for learners to access resources beyond the class-
room, fostering self-directed learning and supplementary education.
Additionally, mobile apps’ immediate feedback feature allows learners to
quickly identify and correct mistakes, further facilitating language learning
progress. By addressing these challenges and using mobile apps strategi-
cally, language education in Vietnam can experience significant
improvements.

Conclusion
By conducting both survey and focus group interviews, the study sought
to get a holistic view of how teachers and students viewed the use of
mobile apps for language learning. Language educators, app developers,
and educational policy makers gained insights from the findings of the
study. First, mobile apps can offer language learners a learning experience
that is individualized and satisfying. The learners reported finding the
mobile apps interactive and engaging, and they appreciated the customiz-
able pace of instruction. Second, mobile app-based language learning
comes with its own share of challenges. The availability of technology,
compatibility, and the necessity for continuous support and training for
both teachers and students were all cited as problematic areas. Third, the
need to provide language learners with effective and engaging mobile
technology experiences is highlighted by the results of this study, which
can inform future language education research. Last, with a focus on
applying mobile apps in language teaching, the chapter provides guidance
in the form of concrete procedures and practical tips. Future research may
continue with the development and analysis of mobile app-based language
learning programs, considering the needs and points of view of both
teachers and students.
 10 REVITALIZING LANGUAGE EDUCATION: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY… 201

Appendix 1: Online Survey

Part 1: Demographic Information

1. Age: ____________________
2. Gender:

• Male
• Female
• Other

3. Occupation: ____________________
4. Current Language Learning Status:

• Beginner
• Intermediate
• Advanced

5. How long have you been learning this language?

____________________
6. What is your primary reason for learning this language?
____________________

Part 2: Mobile App Usage

7. Have you used a mobile app for language learning before?

• Yes
• No

8. If yes, how often do you use the mobile app for language learning?

• Daily
• Weekly
• Monthly
• Rarely
202 N. T. TRAN ET AL.

9. What type of language learning activities do you engage in using

the mobile app?

• Listening and speaking exercises

• Reading and writing exercises
• Grammar and vocabulary exercises
• Cultural activities
• Games and simulations

10. Have you used a mobile app that integrates emerging technolo-
gies, such as AI and gamification, for language learning?

• Yes
• No

Part 3: Perceptions of Mobile Apps for Language Learning

11. How useful do you find the mobile app for language learning?

• Very useful
• Somewhat useful
• Not very useful
• Not at all useful

12. How effective do you think the mobile app is in improving your
language skills?

• Very effective
• Somewhat effective
• Not very effective
• Not at all effective

13. How engaging do you find the mobile app for language learning?

• Very engaging
• Somewhat engaging
• Not very engaging
• Not at all engaging
 10 REVITALIZING LANGUAGE EDUCATION: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY… 203

14. How well does the mobile app adapt to your learning pace
and style?

• Very well
• Somewhat well
• Not very well
• Not at all well

15. How well does the mobile app integrate emerging technologies,
such as AI and gamification, into the language learning experience?

• Very well
• Somewhat well
• Not very well
• Not at all well

Part 4: Open-Ended Questions

16. What do you like about using the mobile app for language learning?
17. What do you dislike about using the mobile app for lan-
guage learning?
18. What improvements would you suggest for the mobile app to
enhance the language learning experience?

Appendix 2: Focus Group Interview

Part 1: Introduction and Background Information

1. Can you tell us a little about your background and experience with
language learning and teaching?
2. How familiar are you with the use of mobile apps for lan-
guage learning?

Part 2: Mobile App Usage

3. Can you describe your experience using mobile apps for lan-
guage learning?
4. How often do you use mobile apps for language learning?
204 N. T. TRAN ET AL.

5. What features do you look for in a mobile app for language learning?

Part 3: Integration of Emerging Technologies

6. How do you believe the integration of emerging technologies,

such as AI and gamification, enhances language learning in
mobile apps?
7. Can you provide an example of a mobile app that effectively inte-
grates emerging technologies for language learning?

Part 4: Perceptions of Mobile Apps for Language Learning.

8. How do you believe mobile apps compare to traditional language

learning methods (e.g. textbooks, language classes, etc.) in terms
of effectiveness?
9. What do you see as the strengths of using mobile apps for lan-
guage learning?
10. What do you see as the weaknesses of using mobile apps for lan-
guage learning?

Part 5: Future Use of Mobile Apps for Language Learning

11. Do you plan to continue using mobile apps for language learning
in the future?
12. If yes, what features or technologies would you like to see inte-
grated into mobile apps for language learning in the future?

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 CHAPTER 11

Factors Affecting EFL Lecturers’

Implementation of Blended Learning
in Vietnamese Universities

Thi Nguyet Le

Introduction
In light of the digital era, traditional face-to-face teaching has revealed
many limitations of an outdated and ineffective method (Musdalifah et al.,
2021; Nuri & Bostanci, 2021). The rapid growth of Web 2.0 and digital
technologies has resulted in innovations and reforms in English language
teaching and learning in higher education worldwide (Ivanova et al.,
2020). This has led to the emergence of “blended learning” (BL), which
refers to the combination of online teaching/learning and face-to-face
teaching/learning with the aim of motivating students and enhancing
their learning (Albiladi & Alshareef, 2019; Nuri & Bostanci, 2021;
Sheerah, 2020). BL is believed to be an optimal approach as it maximizes
the advantages of both face-to-face and online learning (Mulyono et al.,

T. N. Le (*)
People’s Security University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 209

Switzerland AG 2024
L. Phung et al. (eds.), Innovation in Language Learning and
Teaching, New Language Learning and Teaching Environments,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46080-7_11
210 T. N. LE

2021) and minimizes limitations of those delivery modes (Musdalifah

et al., 2021).
In response to the increasing trend of global economic integration, the
Vietnamese government has enforced many higher education reforms to
improve the quality of teaching and learning in the country (Le, 2017).
The government has identified English as the most important foreign lan-
guage to help the country achieve the goals of higher education reforms
as well as promoting successful global integration (Hoang, 2015). The
government has emphasized the importance of English education reforms
by having implemented Vietnam’s National Foreign Language 2020
Project along with the enforcement of many documents such as Decision
No. 1400/QD-TTg, Decision No. 2080/ QD-TTg, and Decision
No.1659/QD-TTg to enhance the quality of EFL education at different
levels (Ngo, 2016; Nguyen, 2019; Tran, 2020). Moreover, having real-
ized the benefits of digital technologies, the Vietnamese government has
issued many policies to promote the use of ICTs, focusing on integrating
online learning with traditional learning to achieve the goal of EFL educa-
tion reforms (Hoang, 2015; Tran, 2020). A clear understanding of the
combination of these two traditional and online components, also known
as blended learning, will lead to an effective application of this delivery
mode. However, the term “blended learning” itself has not been explicitly
described in the policy documents of the Vietnamese government
(Nguyen, 2017), which resulted in a confusion in lecturers’ understanding
and implementation of this delivery mode. BL has been considered an
optimal solution to Vietnamese government’s EFL education transforma-
tion (Hoang, 2015); and the quality of implementing it in reality depends
on various factors (Tran, 2020). For example, Vietnamese EFL lecturers
are still unfamiliar with integrating online learning into face-to-face class-
rooms (Bouilheres et al., 2020; Hoang, 2015; Tran, 2020). In practice,
their teaching methods are still heavily influenced by the Confucian tradi-
tions which prioritize face-to-face, teacher-centered teaching methods
(Nguyen, 2019; Tran, 2020). Moreover, Vietnamese universities’ provi-
sion of technologies is limited (Hoang, 2015). However, very few studies
have been done to investigate factors affecting the success or failure of
implementing BL in the Vietnamese tertiary context. This research project
was, therefore, conducted to investigate the underlying factors affecting
EFL lecturers’ implementation of BL in their teaching practice, which was
expected to make some contributions to the increased quality of EFL edu-
cation at Vietnamese universities.
 11 FACTORS AFFECTING EFL LECTURERS’ IMPLEMENTATION OF BLENDED… 211

An Overview of the Literature on Blended Learning:

Issues and Contexts

Definitions and Understandings of Blended Learning

in EFL Education
The term “blended learning” appeared in the early twenty-first century
(Wright, 2017), and has been used interchangeably with other terms such
as “hybrid learning,” “flipped classrooms,” “distributed learning,” “flexi-
ble learning,” and “blended learning pedagogies” (Riel et al., 2016;
Vymetalkova & Milkova, 2019). Furthermore, there has been no real con-
sensus on how BL has been defined (Eshreteh & Siaj, 2017; Radia, 2019).
First, BL has been viewed as “a combination between face-to-face learning
and online” (Zaim & Mudra, 2019, p. 209). Other researchers have used
various expressions to define BL such as “the mixing of language learning
content with online activities” (Alsowayegh et al., 2019, p. 268), “a com-
bination of traditional and technology-enhanced learning” (Hosseinpour
et al., 2019, p. 99), and “the attributes of both online synchronous-­
asynchronous learning and offline face-to-face language learning” (Wang
et al., 2019, p. 4). These definitions are all viewed from the perspectives of
researchers toward the process of language learning. A second set of per-
spectives on BL concentrates on the teaching dimension only. Wright
(2017, p. 64) viewed BL as “a combination of traditional face-to-face
teaching and online teaching.” Elsewhere, BL is expressed as “an integra-
tion of online education with traditional methods” (Rahim, 2019,
p. 1168) and “a combination of face-to-face and online instruction”
(Zhang & Zou, 2020, p. 41).
One distinctive form of BL which has been recently adopted in EFL in
Vietnamese universities is the “flipped classroom” (Bui, 2022). In this
pedagogical design, students are required to read texts and watch videos
to develop foundational knowledge before class. Once in the classroom,
they will apply that learned knowledge in higher-order activities and join
thoughtful discussions in classrooms (Sulaiman, 2018).
Overall, there is no consensus on how to define the term “blended
learning” in previous studies as researchers see it from different perspec-
tives. The context of this study covers ten different universities in Vietnam,
and BL has been defined in these universities differently due to many fac-
tors that will be covered in the following sections. In this study, BL must
include two components: face-to-face and online; it should be used for
212 T. N. LE

language teaching and learning; and it also refers to the ultimate goal of
improving learning outcomes. Therefore, BL is defined as an appropriate
blend of face-to-face and online dimensions in EFL education to achieve
effective English learning.

Types of Blended Learning in Educational Contexts

An analysis of previous studies on the types or models of BL reveals how
this delivery mode has been implemented in EFL education so far. This
forms a theoretical basis to compare the types of BL used in English lan-
guage teaching in Vietnamese higher education and those in the literature.
The six most traditional models of BL in the literature include: Face-to-­
Face Driver, Flex, Rotation, Online Lab, Self-Blend, and Online Driver
(Horn & Staker, 2011). The Face-to-Face Driver model involves the
delivery of curricula face-to-face in class, while technology is used outside
classrooms to support or supplement traditional teaching. In the Rotation
model, students rotate their learning between face-to-face learning in
physical classrooms and online learning in computer laboratories or from
home. The Flex model refers to the delivery of courses mostly through
online materials, and small group sessions or in-person tutoring sessions
are provided when necessary. The Online Lab model refers to the delivery
of entire content on an online platform in computer laboratories and this
online learning is supervised by a lab assistant. The Self-Blend model refers
to a type of BL in which learners can select some supplemental online
courses to support face-to-face learning. Finally, the Online Driver model
refers to the delivery of content mostly on an online platform, while face-­
to-­face check-ins are sometimes optional and sometimes required. From
another perspective, Norberg et al. (2011) proposed a time-based BL
model, which refers to a blend of two technology-enabled elements: syn-
chronous meetings and asynchronous activities. Synchronous elements
include face-to-face meetings, chats, videoconference meetings, and webi-
nars, all of which take place in real time. On the other hand, asynchronous
elements comprise recorded lectures, assignments, asynchronous research,
book readings, collaboration, and discussions. Generally, BL has been cat-
egorized into various models that differ in the components they blend,
and the roles of each component in the blend.
 11 FACTORS AFFECTING EFL LECTURERS’ IMPLEMENTATION OF BLENDED… 213

Factors Affecting the implementation of BL in EFL Education

Across several research studies, three groups of factors appear to affect the
implementation of BL in EFL education: individual, institutional, and
sociocultural. First, individual factors are mentioned the most in previous
research, and they consist of the following: teachers’ perceptions of BL;
their pedagogical knowledge (PK); their English language proficiency;
their technological competence; their understanding of students’ back-
grounds and characteristics; their motivation, beliefs, and attitudes; and
their experience in integrating BL into EFL teaching.

 erceptions of Blended Learning

P
How teachers perceive the value of BL contributes to the outcomes of
implementing it. Sheerah (2020, p. 205) explains that positive perceptions
help teachers “embrace this concept to improve their classroom practice
and enhance their delivery of the curriculum.” Conversely, Hoang (2015)
argues that when teachers are doubtful about the benefits of BL, they tend
to refuse it in their teaching.

Pedagogical Knowledge
In his study on Vietnamese teachers’ crucial knowledge in BL environ-
ments, Hoang (2015) argues that an understanding of pedagogies leads to
better teaching practices, and as a result, improvements in students’ learn-
ing. Mishra and Koehler (2006) emphasize the importance of pedagogical
knowledge of blended teachers in their technological pedagogical content
knowledge (TPACK) model. PK refers to teachers’ understandings of
teaching methods/approaches and classroom management strategies as
well as learner characteristics, and strategies for assessing students’ perfor-
mance (Koehler & Mishra, 2009).

 nglish Language Proficiency

E
Mishra and Koehler (2006) also emphasize the role of content knowledge
(CK) that EFL teachers need to teach the subject content effectively. CK
refers to teachers’ sufficient English proficiency or their mastery of linguis-
tic components such as phonetics, syntax, pragmatics, morphology and
semantics, communication strategies, language skills, and sociocultural
knowledge (Hoang, 2015). On the contrary, Hoang indicates EFL teach-
ers’ lack of English competence leads to the low quality of English teach-
ing and learning at Vietnamese universities.
214 T. N. LE

Technological Competence
BL requires teachers to have necessary technological skills and knowledge
to deliver English courses successfully because it is basically a technology-­
enhanced approach (Mozelius & Hettiarachchi, 2017). Hoang (2015)
emphasizes that the use of BL required EFL lecturers to “have some
advanced knowledge and skills related to computers and online tools”
(p. 79).

 nderstanding of Students’ Backgrounds and Characteristics

U
Successful teachers using BL need to have a good understanding of stu-
dents’ needs, backgrounds, preferences, and their information technology
(IT) competence so that the teachers can integrate web-based technolo-
gies into English classrooms successfully (Okaz, 2015). Such awareness
assisted teachers in designing, organizing, and balancing appropriate
teaching activities in classrooms and online (Wu & Liu, 2013).

 otivation, Beliefs, and Attitudes

M
Personal motivation encourages teachers to use BL and assists them to
maintain effort and persistence in improving EFL education using BL
(Copriady, 2015; Ibrahim & Nat, 2019; Rahim, 2019). Moreover, when
teachers have positive attitudes toward BL, they are encouraged to use
these delivery modes to increase students’ learning outcomes (Tawil,
2018). When they believe in the benefits of using BL, they will put more
commitment and devotion in implementing it (Hoang, 2015). Thus,
teachers’ motivation, beliefs, and attitudes have a positive impact on the
use of BL in EFL education (Ibrahim & Nat, 2019).

 xperience in Integrating Blended Learning into EFL Teaching

E
Previous research has shown that teachers seem to be quite comfortable in
a traditional, face-to-face environment, whereas many feel unfamiliar with
online elements of a virtual learning environment (Garner & Rouse, 2016;
Mozelius & Hettiarachchi, 2017). Thus, blended teachers must be expe-
rienced in blending face-to-face and online learning environments. Hayati
et al. (2021) argue that teachers can benefit from the experience of
“engaging the students in a blended learning class by getting attention
and students’ interest with fully applying technology” (p. 775).
Second, various institutional factors also play an important role in
enhancing the quality of implementing BL in EFL education. These
include the following: infrastructure, resources and technology; support
 11 FACTORS AFFECTING EFL LECTURERS’ IMPLEMENTATION OF BLENDED… 215

and incentives; training and professional development; policies; budget;

course design and evaluation; and ethical issues.

I nfrastructure, Resources, and Technology

Successful implementation of BL at an institution lies in the availability
and accessibility of infrastructure, resources, and technology (Bowyer &
Chambers, 2017; Hamzah et al., 2020; Tran, 2020). Thus, technological
infrastructure has been highly emphasized in previous studies because it
contributes to a successful BL environment (Chen & Yao, 2016; Futch
et al., 2016; Mozelius & Hettiarachchi, 2017).

Support and Incentives

Several studies provide evidence for both teachers and students needing to
access technical support, affective support, and/or academic support to be
comfortable in BL environments (Al-Saleh, 2018; Bojović, 2017). The
challenges students and teachers have when working with web-based tech-
nologies and resources are alleviated by technical support, which in turn
facilitates technology-mediated teaching and learning. Hoang (2015)
argues that when teachers lack technical support, they cannot design and
deliver BL courses effectively. Moreover, Graham et al. (2013) agree that
institutional incentives can increase opportunities for implementing BL
successfully.

 raining and Professional Development

T
It behooves universities to provide teachers with the necessary training so
that they can deal with the multiplicity of problems that emerge in BL
environments (Ivanova et al., 2020; Okaz, 2015). Moreover, training
enables teachers to appreciate and make use of the benefits of both face-­
to-­face learning and online learning (King, 2016). Teachers can overcome
difficulties or challenges of BL environments with sufficient training in
how to implement BL approaches in teaching (Koşar, 2016). Moreover,
EFL teachers often lack the capacity to deal with digital technology prob-
lems, so they need professional development programs on pedagogical
and technological skills and effective strategies of using BL (Ibrahim &
Nat, 2019). Not surprisingly, Tran (2020) confirms that a lack of profes-
sional development opportunities led to EFL teachers displaying insuffi-
cient competence and low confidence when using BL.
216 T. N. LE

Policies
In light of the institutional factors explained above, university policies are
an umbrella factor that can contribute to successful implementation of
BL. Graham et al. (2013) assert that a clear institutional policy direction
contributes to the successful adoption of BL. Effective institutional poli-
cies around the implementation of BL motivate teachers to use this deliv-
ery mode (Ibrahim & Nat, 2019). Additionally, institutional advocacy
among leaders and staff contributes to an effective implementation of BL
(Tran, 2020). By contrast, the lack of clear institutional policies to support
the implementation of BL has a negative impact on learning outcomes
(Hoang, 2015).

Budget
Costs are a vital factor in adopting BL because institutions need to make
investments to establish and maintain technological infrastructure (King,
2016). Additional costs lie in technology servicing, administration, class
content, faculty, and student services. Thus, consideration of cost effec-
tiveness plays a vital role in making the implementation of BL effective
because technological infrastructure is the core of an BL environment
(Mozelius & Hettiarachchi, 2017).

 ourse design and Evaluation

C
Appropriate blended course design involves finding the ideal “combina-
tion of online and classroom activities” (McGee, 2014, p. 33), which can
increase learner engagement, reduce teaching time in classrooms, and pro-
mote the use of information technology. In addition, ongoing evaluation
of BL courses are essential to inform thorough and multifaceted reflection
on the results of the courses and propose solutions to improve the courses’
quality (Bowyer & Chambers, 2017).

Ethical Issues
BL environments require educational institutions to follow ethical prac-
tices which guarantee the effective implementation of BL (Partridge
et al., 2011). Those ethical issues are mainly around online learning,
such as data quality, plagiarism, intellectual property rights, and privacy
(Alebaikan, 2010).
Finally, the success of the implementation of BL may be impacted by
sociocultural factors (Okaz, 2015). For example, how to develop policies
connected with the use of BL and how to design technology-enhanced
 11 FACTORS AFFECTING EFL LECTURERS’ IMPLEMENTATION OF BLENDED… 217

learning systems depend on cultural elements of specific regions (Pillay &

James, 2014).
The three groups of factors, including: individual, institutional, and
sociocultural ones play an important role in guiding the data collection for
the current study. Thus, four main questions were addressed to achieve
the research objectives:

1. How is BL being implemented in EFL education across ten

Vietnamese universities?
2. How do Vietnamese EFL lecturers perceive their implementation of
BL in English teaching?
3. What factors positively affect those lecturers’ implementation of BL?
4. What factors negatively affect their implementation of BL?

The chapter now continues with a description of the research design

and methodology, and then the major findings.

Research Design and Methodology

This chapter employed a qualitative research design which aims to explore
a problem, develop an in-depth understanding of a central phenomenon,
and build theories from data patterns (Creswell, 2012; Taylor et al., 2016).
Moreover, using interpretivism, the study seeks an in-depth understand-
ing of people’s views, thoughts, beliefs, or perspectives to explore a phe-
nomenon (O’Donoghue, 2007, 2018). The chapter focused on
investigating the perspectives that the 20 Vietnamese lecturers held about
the various factors affecting the implementation of BL in their EFL educa-
tion, the outcomes of their implementing BL, and factors affecting the
lecturers’ success or failure.
Data for this research was collected through semi-structured interviews
with 20 EFL lecturers across ten universities in Vietnam. These universi-
ties are located in two metropolitan cities, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city,
where BL has been increasingly enacted to improve English language edu-
cation. The Deans of the faculties/departments of English at these univer-
sities gave consent to support the research and allow the lecturers to
participate. The interviews were conducted between February and April
2019. Each interview lasted between 30 and 45 minutes and consisted of
open questions around four main issues related to the four research ques-
tions: (i) how BL was being implemented at their institutions; (ii) how the
218 T. N. LE

EFL lecturers perceived the outcomes of implementing BL in their English

teaching; (iii) what factors they identified as having a positive impact on
the implementation of BL; and (iv) what factors they identified as having
a negative impact on that implementation.
The participants were EFL lecturers aged 25 to 55 years old, and had
experience in applying BL in English teaching. Fourteen out of the 20
participants had a master’s degree; four had a doctorate; and two had
bachelor’s degrees in TESOL methodology, Education, and Applied
Linguistics. Not only did they consent to the research, but they also
expressed their strong willingness to participate in it, clearly very apprecia-
tive of the opportunity to provide their opinions on the matter.
Each of the interviews was electronically recorded, saved in audio files,
and subsequently transcribed in the Vietnamese language. The interview
transcripts were translated into English and saved in NVivo™ 12 files. The
transcripts were coded using NVivo™ 12 for storage and categorizing.
Two or three levels of codes emerged from the analysis, depending on
specific data. NVivo™ 12 also allowed the data to be displayed in detail, as
seen in the findings section. The data analysis was conducted in line with
Miles et al. (2014)’s framework consisting of three stages: “data conden-
sation, data display, and conclusion drawing and verification” (p.12).
The coding process was conducted at two or three levels to obtain the
data for answering the four research questions. At two levels, selected
excerpts from the 20 interviews were grouped into level-two child nodes
of similar themes. Then, those level-two child nodes were grouped into
two parent nodes, namely: (i) “stated types of BL,” which revealed evi-
dence of various categories of BL used in EFL education across ten
Vietnamese universities; and (ii) “stated results of implementing BL,”
which provided information on how the EFL lecturers viewed the out-
comes of their implementation of BL in their English teaching.
In addition, other selected excerpts from the 20 interviews were
grouped into level-three child nodes of similar themes. Then, those level-­
three child nodes were grouped into level-two child nodes, namely: (i)
“positive personal factors”; (ii) “positive institutional factors”; (iii) “nega-
tive personal factors”; and (iv) “negative institutional factors.” Finally,
those level-two child nodes were grouped into two level-one parent nodes,
namely: (i) “stated positive factors”; and (ii) “stated negative factors.”
These parent nodes were predetermined codes which revealed the evi-
dence of positive and negative factors affecting the lecturers’ implementa-
tion of BL.
 11 FACTORS AFFECTING EFL LECTURERS’ IMPLEMENTATION OF BLENDED… 219

Findings
The findings that emerged from the data analysis are presented below in
terms of addressing the four main research questions regarding categories
of BL implemented by the participant lecturers; outcomes of their imple-
mentation of BL; factors contributing to their success; and factors causing
their failure in implementing BL.

How is BL Being Implemented in EFL Education Across

Vietnamese Universities?
The first group of findings emerged from the analysis of the qualitative
data extracted from the 20 EFL lecturers’ responses when the lecturers
were asked about how they were using a mix of face-to-face learning and
online learning in their English teaching.
The results from the data analysis indicated that five types of BL were
employed in EFL education across the ten universities. The most domi-
nant type of BL, stated by 16 out of the 20, was a blend of face-to-face
learning in classrooms as the main component and online learning as a
supportive component. The second type of BL, stated by six of the partici-
pants, referred to the rotation between face-to-face learning in classrooms
and online learning in computer laboratories. The third type of BL, stated
by two participants, was a mixture of a face-to-face English course and a
supportive online course. The last two types, each mentioned by only one
participant, comprised the following: (i) a blend of online self-study before
class, face-to-face practice of English skills in classrooms, and online exer-
cises after class—a sort of flipped classroom; and (ii) a synchronous deliv-
ery of face-to-face learning and online learning in a computer laboratory.

How do Vietnamese EFL Lecturers Perceive their Implementation

of BL in English Teaching?
The second group of findings emerged from the analysis of the qualitative
data extracted from the 20 EFL lecturers’ responses when the lecturers
were asked about how they perceived the outcomes of their implementa-
tion of BL in English teaching.
Across the 20 participants, the most startling result was that three-­
quarters of the participants could find few positive things to say about
their use of BL. Those 16 participants all said that they were failing to
220 T. N. LE

manage the use of BL in their teaching. They struggled to exploit web-­

based technologies and learning platforms to enhance students’ learning
outcomes. For example, Lecturer 2 confirmed that “learning English writ-
ing skills with the LMS system is not very effective.” Moreover, Lecturer
6 was doubtful about this delivery mode when stating:

As far as I can tell, that students can have better academic results is not due
to blended learning… Students are more and more aware of their English
learning … Their parents have equipped them with the English language
since high school… I don’t dare to assert whether students’ better academic
results are due to blended learning or not because it depends on many
other factors.

The participants also found it hard to check and monitor students’

learning progress in BL environments. For example, some stated:

Most of them [lecturers] worry that when teaching in such an LMS, they
cannot control student learning as well as in a traditional environment.
(Lecturer 3)

I still have difficulty controlling whether students have done homework by

themselves or have copied answers from friends. (Lecturer 18)

Most importantly, those participants complained of ever-increasing

workload demands and more technical problems to deal with in their BL
environments. When expressing their views about this drawback, they
used similar expressions such as “have to work harder” (Lecturers 2 and
6); “workload increases” (Lecturer 3), and “a burden for me” (Lecturer 10).
By contrast, only four stated that they were managing their use of BL
successfully. Two of those were a deputy dean and a senior EFL lecturer
who were working at the same university where the introduction and
implementation of BL were well planned and well prepared in advance.
The deputy dean oversaw planning, designing, evaluating, and making
changes to the implementation of BL in EFL teaching at her university as
well as being an active EFL lecturer. She proudly stated, “I think our suc-
cess is that our students can produce more work and speak more English
in classrooms with teachers’ guidance, control and support.” Of the other
two who were positive about their use of BL, one managed her universi-
ty’s combined center for foreign languages and technology. She proudly
 11 FACTORS AFFECTING EFL LECTURERS’ IMPLEMENTATION OF BLENDED… 221

stated that she was provided with appropriate policies, sufficient technolo-
gies, training and support to ensure a successful implementation of BL in
EFL education. She was also an EFL lecturer with practical experience of
using BL in English classrooms. When asked about how she viewed the
use of BL, she said, “It [the use of BL] is of course better. Students are
more active and they are always looking for ways to access technology, so
they will have more initiatives in their learning.” The fourth satisfied lec-
turer was another dean of an English Department, who also had some
authority and empowerment on how BL was implemented. He took
advantage of expertise and experience of using educational technology to
increase the quality of English learning in higher education. In brief, all
four explained that their use of BL in English teaching was effective
because it had helped to improve their students’ learning results; they
were also convinced that BL brought benefits for students, lecturers, and
their institutions.

What Factors Positively Affect those Lecturers’

Implementation of BL?
The third group of findings emerged from the analysis of the qualitative
data extracted from the 20 EFL lecturers’ responses when the lecturers
were asked about what factors positively affected those lecturers’ imple-
mentation of BL.
The four lecturers who were managing their use of BL successfully
spoke to a range of personal factors and institutional factors that contrib-
uted to their success. The set of personal factors they referred to consisted
of the following: (i) a well-developed understanding and experience of
using BL in EFL education; (ii) effective teaching methods in BL environ-
ments; and (iii) a positive sense of professional agency. They agreed on a
group of institutional factors as well: (i) clear and unified policies and
procedures for implementing BL in EFL education; (ii) appropriate syllabi
and textbooks; (iii) adequate infrastructure, technology, and resources;
and (iv) sufficient support, incentives, and professional development.
From the lecturers’ perspectives, they could effectively manage their
implementation of BL in EFL teaching when these personal and institu-
tional factors were positive. As an evident example of positive personal
factors, Lecturer 3 showed his understanding and experience of using BL
in EFL education when stating:
222 T. N. LE

with some English courses, I followed the PALM model (Plan, Activate,
Learning activities, Management). For some other courses, I consulted the
framework of University of Oregon, USA, which also includes warm-up
activities, then receptive activities such as reading, listening, then the stage
of production. It is a bit like the sequence of teaching an English lecture
including pre-teaching, while-teaching, and post-teaching.
I have used many different tools on the LMS to interact and communi-
cate with students. I can use a forum, video-conferencing, chat tools, even
tools for collecting questionnaire feedback … lots of different tools.

Lecturer 3 also indicated that his university facilitated the use of

BL. He said:

The university supports facilities and training sessions, encourages research

such as writing newspapers, implementing scientific projects … The univer-
sity encourages lecturers to apply blended learning. If anyone wants to use
the LMS, they are free and comfortable to use it, so they don’t have to fulfill
their compensatory teaching hours.

Another participant, Lecturer 18, explained how her institution sup-

ported the implementation of BL in English teaching and learning.
He stated:

IT staff are available and ready to assist us. Wi-Fi works well everywhere. We
can have support and assistance in the cooperation with the Faculty of
Informatics and other departments during the implementation of blended
learning. This blended program has helped us increase our commitment,
passion and enthusiasm in teaching because we can work together and share
much with each other.

What Factors Negatively Affect their Implementation of BL?

The last group of findings emerged from the analysis of the qualitative
data extracted from the 20 EFL lecturers’ responses when the lecturers
were asked about what factors negatively affected those lecturers’ imple-
mentation of BL
This subsection addresses one of the more significant outcomes of the
research, which also explains why the 16 lecturers’ use of BL was ineffec-
tive. The participants identified a range of factors that contributed to their
failure to manage the implementation, including a number of personal and
 11 FACTORS AFFECTING EFL LECTURERS’ IMPLEMENTATION OF BLENDED… 223

institutional factors as detailed in Table 11.1. Evaluating the table, one can
see that the same factors are repeated across most of the participants.
The three major personal factors reflected a sense of personal inade-
quacy. First, they had an insufficient understanding of what BL meant in
practice. This was clearly expressed in what Lecturer 19 said, “I used to
hear about the term blended learning, but I don’t clearly understand this
concept. I cannot explain what it exactly refers to.” Second, they lacked
any effective pedagogies for successfully implementing BL. For example,
Lecturer 11 explained, “there are no documents regarding how to use
blended learning, how to define it or specific steps to apply it in English
lessons.” Consequently, they assumed a low-level professional agency to
enact any positive change in their practice. Some participants expressed
their similar views when they made statements such as “online learning in
the computer laboratory is a burden for me” (Lecturer 10); and “online
lectures have been sketchily designed to meet the minimum requirements
of our university’s policies of implementing BL” (Lecturer 11). In addi-
tion, they also indicated four institutional factors, one of which was that
they found policies for implementing BL in English teaching at their uni-
versities confusing and unhelpful. The institutions failed to provide them
with necessary resources, adequate technological infrastructure and digital
resources, and supportive syllabi and textbooks. They also received inad-
equate support and incentives from their institutions, and insufficient and
irrelevant training to implement BL effectively. For example, Lecturer 4
complained that “the university has no policy to encourage lecturers…

Table 11.1 Underlying factors negatively affecting the EFL lecturers’ imple-
mentation of BL
Underlying Stated supportive findings NVivo™
factors References

Personal factors Insufficient understanding of BL 16

Ineffective pedagogies of implementing BL 16
Low professional agency 14
Institutional Unclear policies for implementing BL 16
factors Insufficient provision of technological infrastructure 16
and resources
Inappropriate course syllabi and textbooks 16
Inadequate support and incentives from institutions 14
Insufficient and irrelevant training 13
224 T. N. LE

This university has problems with policies.” In a similar vein with many
participants who were dissatisfied with the lack of BL-related training,
Lecturer 19 confessed that “my university does not have any training ses-
sions on pedagogies with blended learning, so lecturers are flexible in
using it, each will apply it in a different way.” These obstacles led to the
lecturers’ dissatisfaction and demotivation in using BL, which in turn con-
tributed to their failure in implementing BL effectively in their EFL teach-
ing. Moreover, the payment for online teaching was considered a
demotivating factor. Lecturer 4 explained, “whether lecturers don’t use
technology to save time or they try hard to invest their efforts in using
technology in their teaching, their salary is still the same… the same price
policy is not acceptable.”
The findings of this study also revealed a group of contributory factors
that were indirectly referred to, the sociocultural and economic factors,
which mostly hindered the lecturers’ implementation of BL. One of the
most pervasive factors was the traditional Confucian teaching culture. For
centuries, teachers and students in Vietnam have valued traditional, face-­
to-­face teaching methods, where each had distinctive roles to uphold and
play. Brought up in this tradition, many participants in this study spoke
about the conflict between these classroom-based pedagogies and the
implementation of BL. Lecturer 17 blamed her failure on Confucian
teaching traditions when stating that “traditional teaching methods are
deeply rooted in our minds, making us prefer teaching English to students
in the outdated ways we were taught before.” Even Lecturer 9 wondered,
“So what is the difference?” when she tried to distinguish BL and tradi-
tional teaching methods. Most of the lecturers confessed that they tended
to ignore and disregard BL, and gradually they could not maintain their
interest, commitment, and time investment to implement this delivery
mode in their teaching. The economic factors centered on Vietnam as a
middle-income country with limited resources to feed its educational
demands. Consequently, they said openly that their universities did not
have sufficient financial and capital resources to provide them with the
necessary technological infrastructure to support and maintain the imple-
mentation of BL. Lecturer 7 blamed this on Vietnam’s economic context:

because our country is still poor, it can’t be compared to Australia where

universities are well equipped with technological infrastructure … the use of
technology must be very smooth … but if technical problems occur fre-
quently, they will make us uncomfortable.
 11 FACTORS AFFECTING EFL LECTURERS’ IMPLEMENTATION OF BLENDED… 225

The sum of all the factors outlined in the subsection represent the bar-
riers and drawbacks which hindered the implementation of BL among the
majority of the participants.

Discussion
The implementation of BL was considered an innovation to many
Vietnamese EFL lecturers, although BL is not a novice concept world-
wide. The findings revealed that the EFL lecturers implemented five vari-
ous types of BL in their teaching, depending on many personal and
institutional factors. The first four categories have been mentioned in
detail in previous research (Horn & Staker, 2011), except the last type in
which the lecturer conducted a blend of synchronous face-to-face learning
and online learning in a computer laboratory. The most widely used cat-
egory in EFL education was still a combination of face-to-face learning as
a main component and online learning as a supportive one. This confirms
that EFL teaching and learning in the Vietnamese universities were
strongly influenced by traditional teaching methods and Confucian tradi-
tions. This finding supports what has been found in previous research
(Hoang, 2015; Tran, 2020). Generally, there was not a fixed category of
BL applied at ten universities, and there were no clear regulations on
this issue.
Although BL was recognized to provide many educational benefits in
EFL education, not all EFL lecturers implemented BL as successfully as
expected. In revealing the lecturers’ views on how they managed the
implementation of BL in their English teaching, only a quarter of them
openly said that they were successful in doing so. Three-quarters frankly
admitted that they were not managing BL well. The success or failure of
those lecturers depended largely on the impact of personal and institu-
tional factors, and also on whether these two factors were positively or
negatively aligned. In addition, in the context of these universities, the
sociocultural and economic factors hindered the effectiveness of the imple-
mentation of BL.
On the other hand, the success of a small number of the EFL lecturers
was related to their leadership roles and empowerment with their adop-
tion of BL, their decision-making roles with BL courses, and the institu-
tional support of technologies and policies. Significant among the four
successful participants was that they had a decision-making position in the
workplace, and they were empowered to control policies and practices in
226 T. N. LE

their teaching environment. Such influence ensures that the relevant per-
sonal and institutional factors were positive. The three-fourths of the par-
ticipants were unable to manage their implementation of BL effectively
due to the negative impact of personal and institutional factors. Those
who admitted to being unsuccessful in their practices of BL revealed a
sense of helplessness. They lacked personal resources to implement BL
effectively, and as they sensed failure, their sense of agency declined, and
that helplessness multiplied in a vicious, downward spiral. In addition,
those lecturers blamed their failure on the obstructive impact from institu-
tional factors, including institutional policies; syllabi and textbooks; tech-
nological infrastructure; professional development, support, and
incentives, which did not facilitate the lecturers’ implementation of BL in
their teaching. These findings implied that successful implementation of
BL in Vietnamese EFL higher education required improvements in both
personal and institutional factors. Moreover, consistent with the existing
literature (Hoang, 2015; Tran, 2020), the sociocultural factors were
viewed as obstacles which hindered the quality of implementing
BL. Although these factors may not be as prominent as the first two, the
implementation of BL in Vietnamese EFL education would be better if
the negative impact of those sociocultural and economic factors was
reduced.
From the findings emerging from the current study, a conceptual
framework has been refined for Vietnamese EFL lecturers to manage their
implementation of BL effectively in English teaching (see Fig. 11.1
below). This framework consisted of two groups of overt, predominant
factors and a group of contextual, contributory factors. The first group
were personal ones, with three sub-components: Vietnamese EFL lectur-
ers’ perspectives of BL; their BL-based pedagogies; and their sense of pro-
fessional agency in implementing BL. The second group of major factors
were institutional ones. Here, there were four sub-components: policies;
course syllabi and textbooks; technological infrastructure; and professional
development, support and incentives. The group of contributory factors
were sociocultural and economic ones: the first principally involved
Confucian teaching traditions, while the second related to Vietnam’s eco-
nomic situation as a middle-income country. This conceptual framework
suggests that the implementation of blended learning is more likely to be
successful when all its three components are positive. The findings from
this study also suggest that the personal and institutional factors are closely
related and can be remedied by effective leadership to meet lecturers’
 11 FACTORS AFFECTING EFL LECTURERS’ IMPLEMENTATION OF BLENDED… 227

Confucian teaching Vietnam’s economic

traditions context

policies

perspectives of BL SOCIO-CULTURAL & ECONOMIC FACTORS

syllabi & textbooks

BL-based PERSONAL INSTITUTIONAL

pedagogies FACTORS FACTORS
less negative
professional technological
agency infrastructure
positive positive
professional
development,
MANAGING THE support, and
IMPLEMENTATION OF BLENDED incentives
LEARNING EFFECTIVELY IN EFL
EDUCATION IN VIETNAMESE
UNIVERSITIES

Fig. 11.1 A conceptual framework for the Vietnamese university lecturers to

manage their implementation of blended learning in EFL education

needs. When the two main sets of factors are positively aligned, BL is likely
to be effective; when the two main factors are negatively aligned, lecturers
will likely fail to manage their implementation of BL effectively. Finally,
dealing with the vestiges of Confucian teaching practices is also possible.
Economic matters may be more difficult to address, but the experience of
the more effective lecturers still suggests that prudent management and
leadership can manipulate capital resources to the advantage of teaching
effectively with BL. Thus, reducing the negative impact of the contribu-
tory factors is crucial to make the conceptual framework work well.

Conclusion
The chapter reveals the implementation of BL in Vietnamese EFL higher
education was confusing and ineffective. Of the five types of BL stated by
the 20 lecturers, the most dominant one was a mix of face-to-face learning
as the main component and online learning as a supportive one.
Most of the lecturers admitted that they were not able to manage their
implementation of BL successfully in their teaching practice. Their success
or failure was closely connected with three underlying sets of factors.
228 T. N. LE

Among those three sets, personal and institutional factors contributed to

an effective implementation of BL when both of them were positive. On
the contrary, when either of those two sets of factors was negative, the
lecturers’ success was limited. The third set including sociocultural and
economic factors mostly hindered the quality of lecturers’ implementation
of BL, so the lecturers expected solutions to reduce the negative impact of
this contributory set of factors on their teaching practice in BL
environments.
Although the study was conducted at only ten Vietnamese universities,
the results sketch a general picture of the process of innovating the deliv-
ery of English teaching and learning by applying BL at those institutions.
This is at least a positive signal that BL has been gradually recognized and
adopted in Vietnamese EFL higher education. In reality, Vietnamese EFL
lecturers do not easily accept a technology-enhanced delivery mode
because they have experienced the strong influence of long-standing tradi-
tional methods along with other barriers. Thus, the lecturers’ acceptance
of BL must come from changes in their mindsets, leading to follow-up
changes in their actions. In the present study, there was evidence of this
positive change evident in the lecturers’ perceptions of benefits of BL as
well as motivating and obstructive factors that affected their implementa-
tion of BL. These changed perceptions can lead to an increased acceptance
and adoption of this technology-enhanced delivery mode in Vietnamese
tertiary contexts in the future.

Implications
This study offers some implications to relevant stakeholders including the
Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training, the universities, the facul-
ties/departments of English language, and the EFL lecturers with the aim
at increasing the quality of implementing BL in their EFL higher education.
The Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training is expected to
release clear policies for implementing BL in higher education, especially
in EFL education. The uniformity across the country is important, but
flexibility for different universities to adapt policies to their specific charac-
teristics and conditions is also essential. National government policy mak-
ers need to consider the influence of all three groups of factors in the
design and introduction of BL-related policies.
The universities need to keep the personal and institutional factors posi-
tive to guarantee an effective implementation of BL. There should be
 11 FACTORS AFFECTING EFL LECTURERS’ IMPLEMENTATION OF BLENDED… 229

explicit policies, detailed syllabi, and clear procedures for implementing

BL to support EFL lecturers to apply this delivery mode. More impor-
tantly, there should be adequate and appropriate training so that all aca-
demic staff feel competent, empowered, and confident to apply
BL. Universities and faculties/departments of English language cannot
rely on lecturers developing their skills by osmosis; instead, carefully tai-
lored learning opportunities to meet their lecturers’ demands is essential.
Economic factors will impact universities’ ability to provide high qual-
ity technological infrastructure, online resources, textbook-based web-
sites, and computer laboratories. The implementation of BL cannot occur
if universities do not provide good Internet connection, technology, and
facilities. Also, regular updates and maintenance of equipment and facili-
ties are required to facilitate the use of BL.
The current design of English course syllabi in many Vietnamese uni-
versities has been significantly influenced by traditional teaching methods,
which have not facilitated and supported the EFL lecturers in implement-
ing BL. The problems also come from the reliance on textbooks, full face-­
to-­face teaching hours, inappropriate assessments, and unrealistic
workloads that still overemphasize classroom-based, face-to-face teaching.
Thus, there is also a need for a careful review of long-standing syllabus
documents, teaching methods, and traditional assessment practices that
were conceived in earlier times but are outdated or inappropriate.
Accordingly, online elements should be supplemented and attached to
those in order to facilitate the successful use of BL.
Necessary changes in payments can motivate EFL lecturers to imple-
ment BL in their teaching. Because online teaching is not officially recog-
nized and remunerated in many Vietnamese universities, EFL lecturers
often lose interest and motivation. Again, institutional policies need to be
reworked to ensure fair wages for both face-to-face and online teaching.
Nevertheless, it will put increasing demands on limited financial resources
for institutions.
The EFL lecturers themselves are required to maintain their personal
factors positive. They should continue to improve their understanding of
BL, and, especially, to become aware of, and apply effective BL-based
pedagogies. To increase personal competence and confidence as well as a
sense of personal agency, the lecturers can broaden their understanding
through reading professional texts and participating in further training
courses. Moreover, to update and improve their pedagogies in BL envi-
ronments, the EFL lecturers can be guided toward doing research to
230 T. N. LE

investigate and improve their teaching practices and students’ learning

outcomes. Writing journal articles to publish findings or making presenta-
tions at international conferences are fruitful ways to enhance the lectur-
ers’ experience of using BL. In addition, the lecturers should make the
most use of the existing infrastructure and technology to implement BL
flexibly.

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 CHAPTER 12

Innovation in Language Teaching in Vietnam

and Cambodia: Key Themes

Linh Phung, Hayo Reinders, and Vu Phi Ho Pham

Innovation in the field of language teaching (Reinders, Coombe, et al.,

2019a; Reinders, Ryan, & Nakamura, 2019b) is a response to the ever-­
changing dynamics and demands of our globalized world. This book has
showcased some innovative projects that institutions and educators in
Vietnam and Cambodia have implemented in their language teaching con-
texts. These innovations have been guided by evolving teaching methodolo-
gies in the field and influenced by disruptive events and technological
advancements. This concluding chapter synthesizes the key themes that have
emerged throughout this book and emphasizes the crucial role of teacher
empowerment and support in ensuring the success of these innovations.

L. Phung (*)
Eduling International, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
H. Reinders
Faculty of Liberal Arts, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi,
Bangkok, Thailand
V. P. H. Pham
Faculty of Foreign Languages, Van Lang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 235

Switzerland AG 2024
L. Phung et al. (eds.), Innovation in Language Learning and
Teaching, New Language Learning and Teaching Environments,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46080-7_12
236 L. PHUNG ET AL.

Implementing Contemporary
Teaching Methodologies
Innovation in language teaching is generally driven by a quest for effective
methodologies to bring about better learning outcomes and meet chang-
ing needs (Carless, 2012). This quest is clearly demonstrated by the chap-
ters in this book in response to the evolution of pedagogical methodologies
and concepts discussed in the field. There is a general trend to move away
from traditional, teacher-centered approaches to embrace learner-centric
ones under the umbrella of communicative language teaching (CLT).
CLT prioritizes communication over knowledge of the target language as
a structure, emphasizing the practical use of language in authentic con-
texts (Nunan, 1989; Savignon, 1997; Wilkins, 1976). T. L. Nguyen’s
chapter on Communicative Pronunciation Teaching (CPT) illustrates this
very attempt to develop and implement communicative activities in the
classroom, which was found to heighten student awareness of pronuncia-
tion issues and increase their engagement. Students’ positive feedback and
requests for more similar activities underscore the necessity of fulfilling the
principles of CLT in the classroom through a systematic application of
CLT materials, tasks, and teaching techniques, signaling a departure from
traditional teaching methods that rely on rule presentations and mechani-
cal exercises devoid of authentic communication.
Moreover, English Medium Instruction (EMI) (e.g. Macaro et al., 2018)
was a reason for an innovation reported by T. N. Nguyen and Dinh, where
the entire English curriculum was revamped to better prepare students for
their business Bachelor programs. Through systematic and thorough envi-
ronment and needs analyses, the authors highlight the demand for more
robust English courses that better prepare students for the EMI courses in
the later phase of their study. Similarly, in the K-12 setting, Content and
Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) was cited as a guiding pedagogy for
Louw and Reaksmey’s innovation in establishing a K-12 school in Siem
Reap, Cambodia. The integration of language and content engages stu-
dents in meaning-focused activities where they treat language as a tool,
which is an important distinction between CLT and traditional approaches.
In addition, students are able to apply their language skills in real-world
contexts, ensuring a more holistic and authentic learning experience.
Multilingualism and inclusive pedagogies have also emerged as power-
ful frameworks for language teaching innovation. Embracing linguistic
diversity and fostering multilingual education acknowledges the rich
 12 INNOVATION IN LANGUAGE TEACHING IN VIETNAM AND CAMBODIA… 237

tapestry of languages spoken in Vietnam and Cambodia and reflects the

“multilingual turn” in language education worldwide (Meier, 2016). By
acknowledging and leveraging students’ mother tongues, educators can
create a linguistically and culturally responsive pedagogy that respects the
diverse backgrounds of their learners (Gay, 2010; Hollie, 2018).
Specifically, Louw and Reaksmey’s innovation involves the establishment
of a trilingual K-12 program in Cambodia in Khmer, English, and Chinese.
In a different vein, Do et al.’s chapter reports on a materials development
innovation that explicitly adopted a culturally and linguistically responsive
approach. The materials developed in the project include texts and illustra-
tions that represent the students’ cultural values and practices to facilitate
their development of Vietnamese as a second language. Overall, these
innovations align with contemporary demands for practical language skills
and acknowledgment of the cultural and linguistic assets that multilingual
students bring to the classroom. They aim to prepare students for integra-
tion into the wider society as well as communication and employment
across borders in an interconnected world.

The Effects of Disruptive Events

Innovation rarely occurs in a vacuum; it often springs from disruptive
events and changing geopolitical landscapes. The Covid-19 pandemic
served as an unprecedented catalyst for innovation in education world-
wide, including in Vietnam and Cambodia (Reimers & Opertti, 2021).
The sudden shift to remote and online learning compelled educators to
explore innovative digital tools and adapt their teaching methods. As
reported in Vu’s study, amid the Covid-19 outbreak, English language
teachers in Vietnam were “forced” by the circumstances to conduct online
classes. Embracing various online technologies, Vu’s innovation focused
on promoting group work and student engagement in a graduate-level
course by following a thoughtful design framework for online group col-
laboration. Students expressed positive attitudes toward online group col-
laboration and embraced its benefits to promote communication,
collaboration, critical thinking, and academic content comprehension.
Similarly, seizing the increased acceptance of online learning and rising
opportunities to collaborate with virtual educators and English Language
Fellows from the U.S. Department of State due to the pandemic, Ng and
Mannion reported on a successful creation of a new MA in English pro-
gram in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. The chapter illustrates how innovation
238 L. PHUNG ET AL.

can arise through the fortuitous confluence of planned and unplanned

factors as a result of globally disruptive events like the Covid-19 pandemic.
Also in the context of the pandemic, Le reports increased openness to
a new way of organizing instruction and offering blended learning at
Vietnamese universities. However, her chapter clearly demonstrates that
lasting change is only possible if other critical factors affecting the imple-
mentation of an innovation are aligned. These factors include personal
factors (e.g. teachers’ awareness and willingness to implement BL), insti-
tutional factors (e.g. support given to teachers to adopt a new instruc-
tional approach), and sociocultural factors (e.g. the influence of
Confucianism on how teachers and students position themselves in the
classroom). In other words, successful innovation depends not only on
capitalizing on enabling factors, but also on overcoming barriers that are
teacher related, system-related, and school related.
Other geopolitical developments, such as the rise of China’s influence
in Cambodia has had a profound impact on language teaching in the
country. As reported by Louw and Reaksmey, the demand for Chinese
language proficiency has surged, prompting the development of a trilin-
gual school that offers Chinese alongside English and Khmer, the stu-
dents’ native language. This expansion demonstrates how geopolitical
shifts can shape language education priorities and stimulate innovative
approaches to meet evolving demands. Moreover, owing to the economic
relations between Japan and Vietnam, Japanese has emerged as the second
most widely studied foreign language in Vietnam after English (Statistica,
2023), which underscores the significance of the establishment of a
Bachelor of Japanese Language program at RMIT University in Vietnam
as reported in Yamato’s chapter.
In addition, emerging and disruptive technologies, such as mobile
learning, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality, have begun to permeate
language teaching (Pikhart, 2020; Parmaxi, 2020; Zou et al., 2023).
These technologies hold the promise of creating engaging learning experi-
ences and promoting language acquisition. With the undeniable promi-
nence of such learning apps as Duolingo and Memrise, teachers and
students in Vietnam report frequent use of these apps and acknowledge
their potential impact on student engagement and language learning out-
comes, as reported by Tran et al.
Overall, the chapters affirm that innovation in language teaching is not
only a response to disruptive events and geopolitical changes but also an
embracement of cutting-edge technologies to advance education in
Vietnam, Cambodia, and beyond.
 12 INNOVATION IN LANGUAGE TEACHING IN VIETNAM AND CAMBODIA… 239

Assessing the Impact and Involving Stakeholders

Innovation is a multifaceted and dynamic process, one that requires ongo-
ing assessment and continuous improvement (Fullan, 2001). A funda-
mental aspect of this process is the collection of feedback from key
stakeholders representing a range of perspectives, including students, edu-
cators, and school administrators. It is encouraging to note that, through-
out the chapters in this book, a data-driven approach to evaluating
innovation is consistently employed. Various instruments, including
course assessments, questionnaires, and in-depth interviews, have been
used to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of the innovation detailed in
each chapter.
Of particular significance is the prominence given to student feedback
across the chapters, highlighting a commitment to improving student
learning outcomes and placing students at the center of educational inno-
vations. Encouragingly, many chapters, such as those authored by Yamato,
T. L. Nguyen, N. Nguyen, Vu, and Tran et al., prioritize students’ invalu-
able feedback and incorporate insights gained from this feedback in future
innovations. In tandem with the data gathered from students is feedback
from educators who are at the forefront of implementing these innova-
tions. Their perspectives, experiences, and feedback are essential compo-
nents in the evaluation process. Chapters authored by Le, Tran et al.,
T. L. Nguyen, Do et al., and T. N. Nguyen and Dinh collect and analyze
the input of these educators, generating lessons that can sustain and
improve these innovative practices as well as insights that are helpful for
other contexts.
Also important are school administrators, who serve as the custodians
of essential resources, coordinators of efforts, and providers of profes-
sional training opportunities necessary for the success of educational inno-
vations. Louw and Reaksmey’s chapter, for instance, analyzes rich data
drawn from interviews with department heads in English, Khmer, and
Chinese, illuminating their perspectives, successes, and challenges in the
execution of the school vision and goals. Furthermore, it is noteworthy
that other stakeholders, such as industry partners, have been engaged and
consulted. The collaborative efforts with these external stakeholders are
exemplified in the curriculum project detailed by Yamato, signifying the
multifaceted nature of innovation that extends beyond the immediate
environment of the classroom and into the broader socioeconomic con-
text where graduates will be working.
240 L. PHUNG ET AL.

In sum, the chapters collectively demonstrate the pivotal role of stake-

holder engagement, feedback, and collaboration in the innovation pro-
cess. This multifaceted approach not only ensures that innovations align
with the diverse needs and perspectives of those who have a stake in the
innovation but also facilitates continuous improvement and adaptation.

Empowering and Supporting Teachers

At the heart of successful innovation in language teaching are empowered
and supported teachers (Wedell & Grassick, 2020). No matter how
advanced the methodologies or technologies, it is teachers who bridge the
gap between the innovation as a mandate from the ministry of education,
school leaders, department chairs in a top-down approach and innovation
as a process happening in the classroom. More often than not, educational
reforms starting from the top fail to lead to actual changes in teacher atti-
tudes and practices as well as student outcomes because there is insuffi-
cient training and support for teachers.
This case is illustrated clearly in Le’s chapter regarding blended learn-
ing, which concludes that its implementation in Vietnamese EFL higher
education was confusing and ineffective as most lecturers in her study
admitted that they were not able to manage its use successfully in their
teaching practice. This was due to the lack of clarity in what the approach
meant in their context, the heavier workload involved, and the comfort of
continuing traditional teaching arrangements. Although there was evi-
dence of increased recognition of the benefits of blended learning in pro-
viding more language learning opportunities to students beyond the
classroom, the lack of clarity and support affected its implementation.
Similarly, Do et al.’s chapter acknowledges the need to train teachers in
teaching Vietnamese as a second language to effect changes in their teach-
ing practices. In addition, materials development is only the starting point
in implementing linguistically and culturally inclusive pedagogical prac-
tices. T. L. Nguyen’s chapter illustrates the effectiveness of offering inten-
sive training to teachers to implement Communicative Pronunciation
Teaching in the classroom. Adequate training seems to be the key to
empowerment and effective implementation because only then do teach-
ers feel they have the knowledge and the tools to innovate and bring
about change.
 12 INNOVATION IN LANGUAGE TEACHING IN VIETNAM AND CAMBODIA… 241

Conclusion
In conclusion, this exploration of innovative language teaching practices
in Vietnam and Cambodia underscores a dynamic response to global
shifts. The chapters reveal a commitment to contemporary teaching meth-
odologies, notably a move toward learner-centric approaches under
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). This departure from tradi-
tional methods emphasizes the systematic application of CLT principles,
materials, and teaching techniques, signaling a transformative shift in lan-
guage education. Disruptive events, particularly the Covid-19 pandemic,
acted as catalysts, compelling educators to embrace digital tools and new
approaches to learning. Geopolitical and economic changes, such as
China’s growing influence and the Japanese labor market, have also shaped
language education priorities.
The assessment of innovation impact by stakeholders emerges as signifi-
cant. Incorporating student feedback, teacher perspectives, and external
stakeholder input ensures a comprehensive evaluation process, fostering
continuous improvement and alignment with diverse needs. At the core of
successful innovation is the empowerment and support of teachers. The
chapters emphasize that effective implementation relies on adequately
trained and supported educators, highlighting the key role teachers play in
bridging the gap between top-down mandates and transformative pro-
cesses in the classroom. These insights extend beyond regional borders,
offering valuable lessons for educators globally in navigating and leading
innovation in language education.

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 Index

A C
Active learning, 157, 160 Cambodia, 51, 52, 55, 56
Adaptive algorithms, 185 Collaborative learning, 157–179
Additional type, 17 Collaborative tools, 176
Adult learner, 37, 48 Common European Framework of
AI/ML-based language learning Reference (CEFR), 5
apps, 186 Communication tasks, 126, 129
Artificial intelligence, 238 Communication tools, 161, 163, 168
Assessment, 137, 138, Communicative framework, 120, 121,
140–143, 148–150 124, 125
Authentic assessment, 33–36, 38, Communicative pronunciation teaching
41–44, 47, 48 (CPT), 116, 119–121, 124–129
Autonomous learning, 184 Constructivism, 159
Content and Language Integrated
Learning (CLIL), 236
B Cooperative learning, 158
Backward design, 18 COVID-19 pandemic, 74, 75, 78, 84
Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Culturally and linguistically responsive
75, 78, 83 pedagogy, 96, 97
Bilingual education, 56 Cumulative programs, 17
Bilingualism, 94 Curriculum design, 95
Blended learning, 238, 240 Curriculum development, 18,
Bottom-up innovation, 2, 6, 10 19, 22–23

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 243

Switzerland AG 2024
L. Phung et al. (eds.), Innovation in Language Learning and
Teaching, New Language Learning and Teaching Environments,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-46080-7
244 INDEX

D Infrastructure, 73, 84, 88

Doi Moi (Renovation), 4 Innovation in language
teaching, 235–241
Institutional factors, 214, 216, 218,
E 221, 223, 225, 226, 228
Educational policies, 34, 44, 48 Intended learning outcomes (ILOs),
Emerging technologies, 188, 191, 18, 26, 29, 30
193, 195, 202–204 Intercultural communicative
English as a Medium of Instruction ability, 2
(EMI), 3, 5, 6, 10, 15–17, International collaboration, 15
22–27, 29, 30 Internationalization, 15, 30
English intensive course, 16 Internship, 135–151
English Language Fellow (ELF)
(USA), 74, 81
English Medium Instruction K
(EMI), 236 K-12 program, 51–70
Environment analysis, 19, 23
Ethnic minority primary students, 99,
100, 107, 109, 110 L
Evaluation, 239, 241 Language policy, 94
Learner autonomy, 3
Learner-centered approaches, 4, 5, 9
F Learner-centeredness, 3
Face-to-face learning, 211, 212, 215, Learner-focused techniques, 184
219, 225, 227 Learner engagement, 2
Feedback, 38, 39, 43, 44, 46, 48 Learner motivation, 2
Flipped classroom, 35, 38–41, 44, 47 Learning Management System (LMS),
36, 38, 39, 43
Learning outcomes, 236, 238, 239
G Learning styles, 2
Gamification features, 185, 193 Linguistically and culturally responsive
Global integration, 3 pedagogy, 237
Linguistic diversity, 236

H
Hybrid, 83, 84, 86–88 M
Hybrid-mode, 35, 38 Materials development, 237, 240
Meaning-focused activities, 236
Minority languages, 93, 94,
I 99, 109
Immersion, 51, 54–57, 59, 69 Mobile language learning
Inclusive pedagogies, 236 applications, 184
Industry partners, 239 Mobile learning, 238
 INDEX 245

Mock conference (MC), 135–151 S

Motivation, 160, 171, 175, Second language acquisition (SLA),
176, 178 95, 98, 99, 108
Multilingualism, 236 Siem Reap, 51–70
Multilingual turn, 237 Sihanoukville (Cambodia), 73–88
Multimodal learning, 2 Situated learning, 136–140, 143,
147, 150
Situation analysis, 19
N Sociocultural and economic factors,
National Foreign Language Project 224–226, 228
(NFLP) 2020, 5 Social interdependence, 159
Needs analysis, 19–24, 26 Soft skills, 35, 36, 42
Stakeholders, 35, 45–48, 239–241
Strategic partnerships, 74, 80
O Student-centered education, 185
Online, 75, 76, 78–80, 82–84, Student-centered learning, 160
86–88
Online collaborative
learning, 157–179 T
Online group work, 158, 160–163, Teacher-centered approaches, 236
166, 176–177 Teacher professional learning (TPL),
Online learning, 209, 210, 212, 117, 119, 120, 129
214–216, 219, 223, 225, 227 Top-down innovation, 2, 4–6, 9
Oral communication, 115, 116, 118, Traditional teaching methods, 236
119, 126 Training, 116, 117, 130
Outcome-based learning (OBL), Translanguaging, 98
16–19, 26, 30 Translation, 135–151
Transnational program, 16, 30
Trilingual education, 69
P Trilingual K-12 program, 237
Performance, 137–139, 141–150
Personal factors, 218, 221,
223, 229 V
Personalized interaction, 184 Vietnamese as a second
Phenomenology, 58 language, 93–110
Phonetic instruction, 122, 125, 130 Virtual and augmented realities (VR/
Project 2020, 5, 9 AR), 186
Virtual reality, 238

R
Reflection, 40, 43, 47 W
Reflective interviews, 58, 59, 66 Web-based technologies, 214,
Replacement programming, 17 215, 220