VietTESOL International Convention 2026

Data-informed teaching has been a growing concern among lecturers in global higher education institutions, including Vietnam. However, existing research has paid little attention to lecturers’ practices in gathering different types and sources of data beyond assessment data as well as the challenges they encounter in using data to inform their instruction. With a qualitative design, the present study aims to find out how Vietnamese lecturers use data to make instructional decisions and what difficulties they encounter in data use. By using semi-structured interviews with 20 English language teachers from three regions across Vietnam and subsequently analysing data with qualitative content analysis, the present study found that because most of the participants perceived numerous benefits of data in helping them in making real-time instructional decisions, such as adjusting teaching pace and method, providing their students with more support, and giving feedback to institutional administrators, they intentionally collected different types of data (learning-related data and non-academic data) from various data sources (in-class and out-of-class sources). However, they faced both personal and institutional barriers such as their own personality, insufficient skills and awareness in collecting and analysing data as well as large class size, imposed heavy workload, rigid curriculum requirements, lack of incentives and data-related training in their data use practices. These findings highlighted the need for enhanced professional development and institutional support to enable lecturers to engage more effectively in data-informed teaching practices.