Teaching English as an International Language

Identity, Resistance and Negotiation

Phan Le Ha

• Publisher: Multilingual Matters
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9781847699831
• Topic: Filología
• Subtopic: Enseñanza de las artes lingüísticas

Building on both Western and Asian theoretical resources, the book examines how EIL teachers see themselves as professional and individual in relation to their work practices. It reveals the tensions, compromises, negotiations and resistance in their enactment of different roles and selves, especially when they are exposed to values often associated with the English-speaking West. The ways they perceive their identity formation problematise and challenge the seemingly dominant views of identity as always changing, hybrid and fragmented. Their experiences highlight the importance of the sense of belonging and being, connectedness, continuity and a coherent growth in identity formation. Their attachment to a particular locality and their commitment to perform the moral guide role as EIL teachers serve as the most powerful platform for all their other identities to be constructed, negotiated and reconstituted.

Chapter 1

Introduction

Teachers of the English word,
we are tossed about,
defined by others,
insecure
yet whole.
We are special,
knowledge experts, moral guides
and yet the public’s tails.
We have access to the world,
we belong,
yet seem foreignised,
unselectively
Westernised.
We are not allowed to be human,
to fall in love
(with students),
yet we need to live, to change.
We are nobody in this world of Others
yet not the shadow of native English teachers
we light the way for our own.
We are the daughter-in-law of a hundred families
And proudly ourselves,
growing.

The Need to Investigate Teacher Identity in the Context of English as an International Language

The recent tendency to treat English as an international language (EIL) has suggested the possibility of forming a new group of EIL teachers (Llurda, 2004; McKay, 2002). Those who support this tendency have argued that much of the communication in English nowadays is between non-native speakers, and speakers of English tend to be multilingual. Nevertheless, how to teach EIL and how teachers of English negotiate their identities and reconceptualise their pedagogies remain under-discussed. In other words, while attention has been given to the development of EIL and EIL methodologies, the question of EIL teacher identity formation has hardly been addressed. In addition, within the limited existing literature on teacher identity in bilingual and second language education (Block, 2005; Morgan, 2004; Varghese, 2004; Varghese et al., 2005), identity is not a central concern. Neither is teacher identity in these works explored in close relationship with local teaching contexts and English as an international language.

Various aspects of teacher identity are assumed and imagined rather than proved in current literature on the ownership of EIL, such as whether teachers of English see themselves as ambassadors/international mediators or ‘servants’ of English, whether they negotiate their identities according to the romanticising prospects of EIL and how being teachers of English is seen by their societies. While globalisation heavily relies on English, and English language teaching (ELT) solely relies on English teachers and English teaching, what happens to English teachers and their teaching is an important question that needs to be explored, particularly in the context of mobility and transnationality. Moreover, understanding what teachers want, how they perceive themselves and how they are often represented is crucial to the success of ELT teacher training courses and EIL pedagogy in global and local contexts.

This book discusses in particular the identity formation of Western-trained Vietnamese teachers of English, whose identity formation processes respond to all of the above concerns. These EIL teachers see themselves as ‘the daughter-in-law of a hundred families’, a figurative translation of the Vietnamese expression ‘lam dau tram ho’. It is assumed in Vietnamese society that being a daughter-in-law is very demanding, since a girl has to try hard to please her in-law family, particularly the mother-in-law. She will have to distribute her attention everywhere so as not to be judged as bad. She has to ‘please’ many parties. So when being a teacher is compared with being a daughter-in-law, it suggests that being a teacher is already hard, but being a daughter-in-law of a hundred families is a hundred times more difficult. How can a teacher satisfy all expectations from multiple parties? This expression indicates how difficult it is to play the teacher role in Vietnamese society, where whatever a teacher does is being judged by the whole society. At the global and transnational level, specifically given the literature surrounding EIL and these teachers’ movement in space and time between Vietnam and the English-speaking West, the identity formation processes of these ‘daughters-in-law of a hundred families’ undergo complexity, contradictions, tensions, negotiations, sophistication yet fluidity, connectedness and continuity at all these interlinked mobile domains, personal, local, global and transnational.

In particular, this book examines how Western-trained Vietnamese teachers of EIL see themselves as professionals and as individuals in relation to their work practices. It reveals the often invisible sides of their identity, which are the tensions, compromises, negotiations and contradictions in their enactment of different roles and selves. Furthermore, very importantly, as Holliday (2005) consistently demonstrates in his book, native-speakerism (his term) is dominant in almost every teaching setting, and heavily influences EIL teachers’ perceptions and practices. This book on the one hand examines in what ways and aspects native-speakerism applies to these Vietnamese teachers and on the other shows that they often do not identify themselves in relation to it and offer us alternatives that are healthy for critical EIL pedagogy.

‘Daughter-in-Law of a Hundred Families’: Western-trained Vietnamese Teachers of EIL

As a result of historical and political circumstances, Vietnam has only recently opened its doors to the world. English language education, though enjoying a long history in Vietnam (Phan Van Que et al., forthcoming), has only started to boom over the last 20 or so years. This boom has created opportunities for teachers of English to go overseas for further professional training. Australia has appeared to serve as the second ‘former Soviet Union’ in terms of training tertiary teachers and scholars for Vietnam since then. In addition, other English-speaking countries have also contributed to this teacher training and/or professional development process. There is now a large group of so-called ‘Western-trained Vietnamese teachers of English’ working at universities in Vietnam.

The last 20 years have witnessed the heyday of Vietnamese teachers of English. Their identities have been coupled with how English has been seen. Being a teacher of English has become desirable and fashionable, and it is attached to opportunities, wealth and advanced education. Teachers of English have also been seen as being more ‘Westernised’, in that their enactment of their teacher roles has been assumed to be more or less influenced by English and associated values. Those teachers who are trained in English-speaking countries are seen even more critically by Vietnamese society. They are, again, labelled with additional identities because of their physical exposure to the West.

Unlike its neighbouring countries, such as China, Japan, Korea and Thailand, where much of the English language teaching is done by native-English-speaking teachers (for example, Han, 2004; Sakui, 2004), in Vietnam most of this teaching is undertaken by local teachers. I see this as being healthy and playing an important role in the ways Vietnamese teachers of English perceive their identities, as they rarely face the native–non-native dichotomy directly in their working environments. This may give them certain self-images as teachers of English. And this, again, largely influences how their professional identity formation takes place, and hence goes far beyond the native-speakerism discussed in Holliday (2005). Native-speakerism is not necessarily the factor that defines English teachers.

The Western-trained EIL Vietnamese teachers referred to in this book have been all lecturers or hold adjunct lecturing positions at universities in different regions of Vietnam. Most of what is reported in this book was based on a case study research project (from 2000 to 2004), with the data obtained from seven Vietnamese teachers who, at the time of this study, were doing their Master of Education degree, specialising in TESOL, at different universities in Australia. Follow-up email exchanges and phone conversations with them continued after they had completed their courses and returned to Vietnam. To understand their identity formation, intensive use of in-depth interviews, reflective writing and email correspondence was adopted over the research period. A similar study, but on a less intensive scale, was conducted over 2005 and 2006 with another nine Vietnamese teachers who had finished their postgraduate studies in TESOL-related areas in the UK, US, Australia and New Zealand. Conversation-style interviews, phone conversations and email exchanges were employed for data collection.

All these 16 teacher participants had had teaching experience at either teacher training colleges/universities or universities where English was the major subject in different parts of Vietnam before they commenced their courses in Australia, the UK, US and New Zealand. There were 12 female and four male participants. Their ages ranged from mid-twenties to mid-forties. Their teaching experience ranged from three to over 20 years. Before going to Australia, the UK, US and New Zealand, these teachers had not been overseas for any training in TESOL. In Vietnam, they taught various subjects, for example general English, grammar, theories of language, teaching methodology and English literature. I gave them the pseudonyms Kien, Trung, Minh and Vinh (the male participants), Linh, Vy, Thu, Chi, Lien, Trang, An, Binh, Van, Thanh, Thao and Huong (the female ones).

I am in the same position as these Vietnamese teachers, and thus my personal accounts are interwoven with theirs.

Morality in Teacher Development and the Teaching Profession in Vietnam

Morality plays a significant and indispensable role in all processes of teacher identity formation and the teaching profession in Vietnam. For this reason, I want to highlight why morality and demonstrating morality is important to teachers in Vietnam, and why the notion of teacher-as-moral-guide influences how teachers see themselves and are seen by others. Given the cultural politics associated with EIL and ELT (Pennycook, 1994, 1998) and their physical exposure to the English-speaking West, teacher-as-moral-guide appears even more important as a dominant ‘core’ identity that defines EIL Western-trained Vietnamese teachers. Their teacher morality seems to be challenged, especially when the language they teach, no matter how international it has become, is associated with problems of ethics and politics (Pennycook, 1994, 1998; Phillipson, 1992).

Baurain (2004b: 35) draws on a Vietnamese saying ‘first learn the behaviour, then learn the lesson’ (tien hoc le, hau hoc van) to acknowledge the essential role of morality and values in teaching, particularly in the field of ELT. He regards ‘teaching as a moral enterprise’ (p. 35) and suggests Bill Johnston’s (2003) Values in English Language Teaching as a ‘classic in the field’ (Baurain, 2004a: 2). Johnston’s discussion of the role of teachers as moral agents is in part similar to the role of teachers as perceived in Vietnam. Like Miller (2003), I find Johnston’s arguments on the role of morality in what it means to be a teacher significant. In particular, he teases out the complex and often contradictory moral dimensions of the language classroom when teachers must make moral decision as they interact with students, showing how teachers’ beliefs influence their moral choices. Edge (2003) and Pennycook and Coutand-Marin (2004) also strongly argue for the role of morality and ethics in ELT, urging teachers of English to take morality and ethics into serious consideration in their teaching.

Before discussing the role of morality in teacher development and the teaching profession in Vietnam, I acknowledge that morality is a complex and not a unified concept. Although I use the term ‘morality’ throughout the book, I by no means treat it as a unified notion on which all Vietnamese agree. Rather, I regard it, in many cases, as socially acceptable and proper behaviour and manner, and in other cases, as dominant ethical values which are generally shared by the society.

The aim of education in Vietnam is to help people to become good citizens in terms of both knowledge and morality. Teachers themselves are accordingly assumed to be moral guides or role models (Duong Thieu Tong, 2002; Constitution of Vietnam; Education Law of Vietnam). It is often believed that teachers tend to develop themselves both in knowledge and morality to meet the social, cultural and educational expectations of themselves as the moral guides. Moreover, since being a teacher is largely governed by the norms and values of morality, the personal of the teacher is often shaped by and acts according to the professional. On the surface, the professional and the personal seem to permeate one another, and the former seems to dominate.

Being a teacher in Vietnam involves demonstrating morality in every way. Teachers are expected to be moral guides, and Vietnamese society and culture expect that they themselves will lead a morally acceptable life. Evidence for this significant role of morality can be found in Vietnamese history and folklore and in empirical studies related to education in Vietnam.

Historically, according to Duong Thieu Tong (2002), ancient Vietnamese philosophies of education (Lac Viet, around 2000 BC to AD 1), highlighted and advocated caring for and supporting each other and living in harmony with others as well as nature. These philosophies aimed at nurturing individuals who are moral, ethical and live for others. Duong argues that ancient Vietnamese education was developed on the basis of ‘realistic humanism’ (p. 66), which focused on the representation and appreciation of values held by individuals, families and the society. These philosophies also offered teachers a very high and noble status in society. Since Lac Viet education was the education of the people, by the people and for the people, which placed emphasis on moral education and took responsibility for educating morally good individuals, teachers in this society were expected to demonstrate morality in all aspects of their lives. This educational emphasis on morality was maintained among Vietnamese villages and communal societies during the thousand years of Chinese colonisation (from approximately 111 BC to AD 938). Duong demonstrates that the Lac Viet educational philosophies had been developed and practised in Vietnam for at least a thousand years before Vietnam had contact with China. Consequently, the influence of Confucianism on Vietnamese education should not be seen as the only source of underlying philosophical ideals. Duong shows that Confucianism has been Vietnamised and served Vietnamese people’s educational purposes. This point is supported by Phan Ngoc (1998) and Tran Quoc Vuong (2000).

Duong strongly emphasises that Confucian education was never the only education in Vietnam during Chinese colonisation. Neither was it implemented everywhere in the country. Taoism and Buddhism had entered and influenced the local philosophies before Confucianism. Importantly, both Taoism and Buddhism blossomed in ancient Vietnam because these philosophies complemented the local philosophies and culture. Buddhist education was also considered the ‘national education’ during that time, and it had significant influence on Vietnamese cultural identity (Duong Thieu Tong, 2002: 62). While Confucian education was for the ‘elites’, those who worked for the colonial government, Buddhist education was for everyone. Both Duong and Phan Ngoc (1998) argue that monks and Buddhist devotees played a vital role in educating the people. The social status of these Buddhist teachers was very high, and through them Lac Viet educational philosophies and Buddhism were maintained and enhanced, and the role of morality in education was consistently strengthened. Since Confucianism also put great emphasis on moral education, particularly highlighting the moral role of the teacher and the learner, it was not in conflict with Lac Viet and Buddhist education in ancient Vietnam. Rather, these philosophies enhanced one another. They all melded together to contribute to the values and morality of Vietnamese education. This integrated educational philosophy continued to be maintained during the feudal times (938–1945).

Duong indicates that teachers in feudal Vietnamese society did not differentiate between their responsibilities for the education of their students, the education of their families and the education of society. All of these responsibilities were part of educating individuals with knowledge and morality. The teachers in those days also presented themselves as morally good examples for students and for society in every way. Duong demonstrates that since the 15th century, the requirement that intellectuals also be moral exemplars in Vietnamese society was formalised in Vietnamese feudal law, known as the Hong Duc law. The law also clearly identified their rights and responsibilities regarding their personal life, family life and social life. This put pressures on teachers to behave, as well as encouraging them to live morally if they chose to be teachers.

Le Xuan Hy et al. (2005) discuss the ‘care orientation’ in Vietnamese culture, and claim that human relationships are at the core of the care orientation (p. 4). They highlight the three significant aspects of the strong human relationships in Vietnamese culture, namely ‘(1) human relationships as the foundation of ethics; (2) a strong emphasis on respect for the other; and (3) responsibility for the other to the point of self sacrifice’ (p. 4). The focus on human relationships in Vietnamese philosophy has been woven into educational ideals in Vietnam, and is manifested in traditional as well as modern teachings. This philosophy supports morality and ethics education. One reason why teachers in Vietnam see the need and will to demonstrate morality is that ‘respect toward the other is one of the most crucial ethical teachings in the Vietnamese society’ (p. 5). In Vietnamese philosophy, ‘the teaching “kinh tren, nhuong duoi” or “respect the older, and yield to the younger” has become one of the most important ethical codes for mutual relationships among the Vietnamese’ (p. 5). This philosophy has been practised in education as well. Both teachers and students need to respect each other and mutual respect is expected between the two. Teachers’ respect for students is manifested in the exercise of their responsibilities and willingness to care for students and educate them in terms of both knowledge and morality.

In modern times, being a teacher in Vietnam involves demonstrating morality by both behaving morally and ethically as individuals and giving students moral education. Teacher morality and roles regarding moral education are encoded in rules and regulations. For example, the Constitution of Vietnam clearly states that:

the aim of education is to form and nurture the personality, moral qualities … to imbue [people] with … good morality … (Article 35)

The Education Law clearly identifies the role, tasks and rights of the teacher in Articles 14, 61 and 63, in which the teacher:

must constantly learn and train in order to set a good example for the learners

… discharge[s] their task, preserve[s] and develop[s] the tradition of respecting the teacher and glorifying the teaching job

must have good moral qualities, ethics and ideology

[is] 1. to educate and teach according to the objective, principles and programs of education; 2. to be exemplary in fulfilling the citizen’s duties, and observing the regulations of law and the statute of the school; 3. to preserve the quality, prestige and honor of the teacher, respect the dignity of the learners, to behave justly with learners, and protect their legitimate rights and inter...

Table of contents

• Coverpage
• Titlepage
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Foreword
• Acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Language, Culture and Identity
• 3 The Politics of English as an International Language and English Language Teaching
• 4 Identity Formation: Negotiations of Apparently Contradictory Roles and Selves
• 5 Identity Formation: The Teacher and the Politics of ELT
• 6 An EIL Teacher’s Identity Formation: Kien
• 7 Teacher Identity and the Teaching of English as an International Language
• References