VietTESOL International Convention 2026

The increasing use of English as a medium for disciplinary communication has prompted a shift in Vietnamese higher education from EFL-based instruction towards more ESL-oriented teaching practices. Although this transition is strongly supported at the policy level, existing research has largely focused on programme implementation and student outcomes, with limited attention to lecturers’ instructional experiences and the interaction between communicative demands and teaching capacity. This study adopts a quantitative, cross-sectional survey design to examine lecturers’ perceptions, communicative demands, and instructional capacity in an English-mediated context. Data were collected from 200 lecturers using a structured questionnaire comprising 34 Likert-scale items and were analysed through descriptive and inferential procedures. The results indicate that lecturers hold positive perceptions of the transition, yet report high communicative demands alongside only moderate levels of discursive flexibility and assessment literacy. Inferential findings further show that English proficiency significantly influences instructional capacity, with lower-proficiency lecturers experiencing greater difficulty and reduced confidence. Overall, the study identifies a misalignment between policy expectations and instructional capacity, highlighting the need for targeted, practice-oriented professional development to support effective implementation of ESL-oriented teaching.