The impacts of globalisation on EFL teacher education through English as a medium of instruction: an example from Vietnam

Abstract

Recent research on language planning and policy highlights the effects of globalisation in spreading the English language as a medium of instruction (EMI) in non-native English speaking (NNES) countries. This trend has encouraged many universities in NNES countries to offer EMI education programmes with the objective of developing national human capital with proficiency in English. One such country is Vietnam, where the Ministry of Education and Training prepared a 2008–2020 action plan to revitalise English language education, involving the improvement of the quality of language teacher education (TE). As part of the current reforms, the Ministry has urged teacher training colleges and universities to develop high quality English as a foreign language (EFL) TE programmes. In response, a fast-track EFL TE programme with EMI has been introduced at a Vietnamese university. Focusing on this TE programme, this paper illustrates how contemporary globalisation encourages using EMI in TE in NNES countries. Vygotskian socio-cultural theory and Marginson and Rhoades's [Beyond national states, markets, and systems of higher education: A glonacal agency heuristic. Higher Education, 43(3), 281–309] glonacal heuristic are used to analyse the effects of globalisation in this EMI teaching context. Based on individual interviews of a cohort of 20 Vietnamese pre-service teachers, classroom observations and artefacts, such as instructional materials and policy documents, the paper shows that global influences on teaching practices were mediated by a number of different elements, including social and community pressure, trends to the internationalisation of education, and the availability of teaching resources.

Keywords:

• English as a medium of instruction
• globalisation
• language policy
• teacher education
• Vietnam
• Vygotskian socio-cultural theory