Speaker
Description
This doctoral study examines the use of Change Laboratory, a formative intervention grounded in Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), as both a professional development model and a research methodology to support teacher learning during Vietnam’s transition from English as a foreign language to English as a second language. The study focuses on Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) teachers working at two primary schools, who face the dual challenge of teaching subject content and English.
Adopting a bottom-up approach, Change Laboratory positions CLIL teachers as co-analysts of their own activity system. Through participation in a structured expansive learning cycle, teachers engaged in empirical and historical analysis to identify systemic contradictions in their work, collaboratively model and implement solutions, and evaluate and consolidate changes in practices. Within this process, teachers examined emerging CLIL-related tensions, including curriculum and textbook demands, content and linguistic knowledge requirements, and CLIL pedagogical approaches. These analyses informed their design of locally responsive pedagogical solutions aimed at renewing CLIL teaching practice.
The forum presentation introduces the theoretical and conceptual framework, research design, and methodological rationale with particular attention to how Change Laboratory processes were intentionally designed to support pedagogical renewal in relation to CLIL’s dual focus on content and language. It also reflects on key ethical and methodological challenges of conducting intervention-based research in a highly exam-orientated educational context. The session invites critical feedback on the study’s methodological approach and contributes to broader discussions on innovative, context-responsive professional development models for CLIL teachers in Vietnam.
Biography
Thi Hoa Le is a PhD candidate at the School of Education, the University of New South Wales, Australia, fully funded by a Vietnamese Government scholarship. She has over a decade of experience as an English language teacher at Ha Tinh University, Vietnam, where she has worked since 2012. Her academic background includes a Bachelor’s degree in English Language Teaching from Hue University of Foreign Languages and a Master’s degree in TESOL from the University of Aberdeen, UK. She was also a recipient of the prestigious Chevening Scholarship awarded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Her research interests include teacher professional development, Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), and Cultural Historical Activity Theory-informed approaches, particularly the Change Laboratory intervention.
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