VietTESOL International Convention 2026

In recent years, teacher leadership has gained increasing attention as an important factor in improving teaching quality and supporting school development. Research has consistently highlighted the importance of preparing preservice teachers for teacher leadership during their initial teacher education. However, limited research has examined how preservice teachers conceptualize teacher...

As social media becomes an integral part of students’ daily lives, it is increasingly positioned as a space for informal English learning. However, how learners regulate their learning in these environments remains insufficiently understood. This study examines how Vietnamese EFL university students use social media for self-directed English learning. The research draws on Garrison’s (1997)...

As Vietnam gradually repositions English from a foreign language to a second language, English classrooms are increasingly expected to promote authentic communication, critical thinking, and intercultural interaction. However, greater authenticity in language use also raises pedagogical concerns regarding taboo, controversial, and emotionally triggering topics. This conceptual paper discusses...

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...

EMI (English as medium of instruction) has been implemented globally and regionally over the recent years (Dafouz & Smit, 2016; Macaro et al., 2018), including in Vietnam since the 1990s. Additionally, the theoretical frameworks of learner and teacher agency studies (Chen et al., 2020; Gao, 2019; Ngo, 2024) have contributed to the studies of EMI in higher education, particularly in relation to...

Abstract:

Project-Based Learning (PBL) has become increasingly popular in EFL education due to its potential to promote active learning, collaboration, and learner-centered practices (Thomas, 2000; Bell, 2010). At the same time, learner agency has emerged as an important educational goal, as it enables students to take an active role in shaping their learning experiences (van Lier, 2008;...

In this talk, I will present a broad overview of the PhD requirements and approaches in various countries around the world – though with a primary focus on the UK, where I have most experience. The talk will focus on what I see as the three key aspects of undertaking a PhD. The first of these is the role of the research student. As a student, there are a number of key areas that should be...

This study investigates diachronic shifts in ecological representations in Vietnamese literary discourse, based on a purposively selected corpus of canonical works produced before and after 1975. Drawing on Systemic Functional Linguistics and ecolinguistic discourse analysis, the paper examines how transitivity patterns, appraisal resources, and metaphorical constructions encode changing...

The current study examines subject–verb agreement (SVA) errors in L2 English using a large-scale spoken learner corpus. Drawing on data from 238 learners across three L1 backgrounds and four proficiency levels, the study analyzes 6,762 clauses extracted from 2,142 task-based transcripts. Each clause in the dataset was annotated for a wide range of linguistic and extralinguistic predictors...

The standardized proficiency tests and their washback effects have been drawing great attention from researchers across the globe. The current study investigates the impacts of the Vietnamese standardized test of English proficiency (VSTEP) on non English-majored undergraduates’ behaviors during test preparation process. This research adopted a mixed-methods approach, utilizing two primary...

This transition reflects a strategic language policy direction aimed at equipping learners with practical communicative competence for global participation. Rather than positioning English as an isolated academic subject, the ESL perspective emphasizes its role as a functional medium for interaction in educational, professional, and social contexts.
A critical factor supporting this shift is...