Identities of teachers from English speaking countries through discourses on teaching standard English in Vietnam

m: “They do not check attendance so we are sometimes absent. Sometimes we ask
them out for coffee during classtime and they agree, it never happens when we invite a
Vietnamese teacher.”
Pronunciation-focused procedure
Jimmy, British: “...It depends on the program and the student levels, but I focus on
speaking skills rather than academic writing. I always talk to them, check pronunciation which
is important and motivate students to express their critical thinking in English.”
Phuong: “Most of the lessons are about pronunciation and speaking free topics...”
4.2.2. Students’ tailored lesson plan
In fact, there are few native English teachers who follow quite flexible procedures to fit
with different students’ levels. Besides, a handful of native English speaking teachers introduce
various activities into English classes of different levels. These teachers co-operate
harmoniously with Vietnamese colleagues and find teaching in Vietnam an opportunity to make
friends and get to know a new and interesting culture.
Composing a good lesson plan
Mathew, American: “I always had a lesson plan written out on paper, and I did my best to
follow it. Sometimes it went well, but many times I changed games on the fly, repeated an
activity, or needed extra time to quiet the class. Every day was different. I got very good at
addressing a large group of students. I learned how to discipline students, organize them in at
their most chaotic moments, and treat them fairly so that they all had a chance to speak and
participate. With the help of my T.A., most lessons were successful.”
Balanced and flexible procedure
“I also taught through a system called: “Active Learning.” In this system, students would
work with a Vietnamese teacher on grammar, writing, and some listening skills. Then they
would meet with a foreign teacher (me) for speaking practice. With young children I was mostly
listening for pronunciation, vocab recall ability, and simple sentence structures. It could be
repetitive, but it was important for them to interact with a native speaker. For older students
there would be more advanced question and answer set-ups where they would have to formulate
a coherent answer and explain their reasoning. I would always record notes on their mistakes
and successes and leave a note in their book for their Vietnamese teacher”. 
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Academic English is fruitful at times
“My English teaching experience reached its apex when I met three college students and
began giving them private lessons in order to help them prepare for the IELTS exam. IELTS
(International English Language Testing System) is a test that many foreign students take to
prove fluency and gain access to universities abroad. The test is comprehensive, covering the
four parts of language, (speaking, listening, writing, and reading), but we focused on only
speaking and listening”.
Informal lessons through socializing
“This experience was amazing. The students were so cool, and we all became friends. We
all would go out for roadside phở, lunch, and random hangouts. It helped that they were already
close friends and so we all were able to joke with one another freely. Because they were nearly
my age, our conversations were that much more relevant and relatable. I was able to discuss a
lot more mature subject matters with these students which made the experience a lot more
interesting. Our friendship outlasted my time in Vietnam, and we still remain in contact. I can’t
wait to go back and visit them.”
5. Discussion 
First, the findings illustrate the identities of the teachers from English speaking countries
as being eager and enthusiastic teachers notwithstanding their lack of official teacher-training
skills. They are quite flexible and active in exploring new culture and understanding their
Vietnamese students and colleagues. They even involve in fierce arguments on teaching
standard English by criticising Vietnamese teachers or other native teachers for their lack of
standard English in speaking and writing, which is confirmed in Bright (2012). 
While discussing, the classification of better and real English teachers are portrayed as
standard accent as well as academic writing styles without regarding their teaching
methodology or the understanding of local cultures or students’ needs. The results well reflect
what Thomas and Beauchamp (2011) found in his research that the beginning teachers
perceived themselves as fully responsible for students’ learning and their self-efficacy greatly
depended on their students’ progress. However, the constraints of their institutions made these
teachers focus more on themselves rather than on students. The study showed that the gap
between the teachers’ imagined identities and their actual identities was created due to the
structure of the institution. Importantly, it could be concluded that these teachers find teaching
in Vietnam as good opportunities for them to explore and change themselves to enjoy a new
culture and to be accepted as a member of a new community. The teaching job is a golden
chance for them to start a new life and bridge them to mingle with a community that they are
longing to become part of it. Regardless of some bad experience and negative feeling from the
very beginning, these teachers respect the local culture and express their tendency to enjoy
teaching and living in Vietnam.
Second, except for few teachers following well-prepared lesson plans which fit different
students’ needs and levels, what most of these teachers believe about correct English are not
always applied intensively in their real English classes. From my observation and from the
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results of the interviews, the author realizes that most teachers concentrate on teaching
pronunciation of individual words, the speaking activities are quite simple, and the programs are
quite random and unsystematic. Though students are excited to speak and participate in most of
the communicative games, they are rarely taught academic English writing or standard English
expressions. These teachers suppose that standard English means standard accent in their
teaching procedures. Thus, despite their strong arguments with one another, their practices do
not make so much difference. When being asked about this issue, the English-speaking teachers
explain that it is the responsibility of the Vietnamese teachers to expose the students with
grammar and writing tasks, while they would love to help students with what the Vietnamese
teacher could not provide - the native accent. Actually, this may be caused by the lack of
communication between Vietnamese teachers and native teachers (Canh, 2013). 
Other studies in Asian context also come to the similar conclusion. Kim (2012) studied
stories of four native English teachers at a university in Korea. The native teachers identified
themselves as “respected but separated, welcomed but not belonged outsider.” Kim also
maintains that the students’ recognition and Native English Teachers’ (NETs’) non-participation
in a decision-making process were critical in identity formation. The NETs’ limited participation
in the practices of the university and the local community defined them as visitors but not as full
members. Nevertheless, from the findings of my study, some English teachers have better social
relationship with Vietnamese students and consider informal conversations with students as
fruitful and enjoyable.
6. Implications 
According to the findings and discussion above, there are always advantages and
disadvantages to learning with teachers from English speaking countries. The thing is that
teachers should focus on different students’ needs instead of improving the standard accent only
because of the fact that Vietnamese English learners have had more interactions with non-native
or Asian partners. More skills such as composing correspondences, academic proposals,
scientific researches, and specialized documents which are required for the learners’ future jobs,
therefore, ought to be taken into consideration in practicing English teaching procedures.
Furthermore, the overvaluing of the effectiveness of native language teachers may entail the
unawareness of merits of Vietnamese teachers. 
Also, the connections with students, which is critical in constructing teachers’ identities
(Duff & Uchida, 1997) should not be ignored. Kim’s findings in a Korean university continue to
show the importance of participation and agency in becoming recognized as a legitimate
member of the community (Kim, 2017). As a matter of fact, in spite of criticism on both native
and non-native teachers’ English priorities in real classrooms, and the native/non-native
dichotomy, it is necessary to establish intercultural solidarity among teachers and educational
experts for the sake of Vietnamese learners, for a better future of English teaching in Vietnam,
and for the sustainable prospects of the Vietnamese students.
7. Conclusion
The study, showing insight into the construction of identities of teachers from English
speaking countries through various discourses, has produced quite a few meaningful findings.
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To begin with, it is drawn from the conversations and narratives of the native English teachers
expressing their views of the roles of standard English as a key to comprehensibility and success
in intercultural communication. However, in practice, most of them usually pay little attention
to academic and more complicated tasks and give priority to pronunciation training, instead. 
Although the students perceive that the native teachers are creative and interesting, they
prefer them to be more sensitive to and sympathetic with students’ hesitance to speak in class.
Fortunately, native teachers are also willing to socialize with students and a few of them take
advantage of this opportunity to offer informal discussions in English, which is of students’
interest. To conclude, it can be said that despite the undeniable effectivess of learning with the
teachers from English speaking countries, Vietnamese educational authorities, teachers, parents
and students should be well aware of the native teachers’ limitations and distinctive identities,
which are likely to influence their teaching practice. The paper also suggests conducting more
research into discourses and identities of native English teachers since there is a dialectical
relation between teachers’ identities and the discursive narratives and other types of discourses.
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CĂN TÍNH C A GIÁO VIÊN Đ N T  CÁC N C NÓI Ủ Ế Ừ ƯỚ
TI NG ANH THÔNG QUA DI N NGÔN V  VI C Ế Ễ Ề Ệ
D Y TI NG ANH CHU N T I VI T NAMẠ Ế Ẩ Ạ Ệ
Tóm tắt: Học thuyết về tiếng Anh chuẩn đã có những ảnh hưởng rất lớn tới hoạt động dạy
tiếng Anh trên khắp thế giới. Tuy nhiên, trong thời đại toàn cầu hóa, những tương tác liên
văn hóa với những người bản ngữ thậm chí còn ít hơn nhiều so với giao tiếp giữa những
người không phải bản ngữ. Chính điều này đã đặt ra nhiều thử thách với những diễn ngôn
phổ biến về tiếng Anh chuẩn. Điểm thú vị trong nghiên cứu này là thông qua việc phân tích
những diễn ngôn trên nhóm facebook của giáo viên đến từ các nước nói tiếng Anh cũng
như những diễn ngôn về việc dạy tiếng Anh chuẩn trên các phương tiện truyền thông, tác
giả nhận thấy việc tồn tại của sự phân biệt rất lớn giữa giáo viên bản ngữ và không bản ngữ,
kết quả này cũng đã được xác nhận bởi nhiều nghiên cứu gần đây về diễn ngôn và căn tính.
Điểm đóng góp quan trọng là nghiên cứu này chỉ ra rằng những giáo viên bản ngữ này cũng
có sự tranh cãi nội bộ gay gắt về việc lựa chọn dạy tiếng Anh chuẩn cho học viên người
Việt Nam, thông qua đó, xây dựng nên căn tính của họ - một nhân tố then chốt trong việc
dạy và hợp tác giáo dục quốc tế.
Từ khóa: Diễn ngôn, căn tính, giáo viên bản ngữ, tiếng Anh chuẩn 
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