Speakers
Description
As concerns over teacher well-being increase across English teaching contexts, it is imperative to pursue sustainability beyond pedagogy and into teacher development. Addressing this need, this work explores how mindfulness-informed perspectives can deepen sustainable professional development for ELT teachers through structured reflective portfolios.
We draw data from portfolios submitted for the course “Professional Development for Language Teachers”, where both in-service and pre-service TESOL teachers learn and practice strategies recommended by Richards & Farrell (2005). We adopt Langerian mindfulness (Langer, 2014) to examine reflections across five portfolio components: teacher identity and teaching philosophy, critical incidents analysis, observation report, workshop evaluation, and end-of-course reflection.
Although the course involves no explicit mindfulness training, emergent themes in these portfolios show participants’ engagement in mindful noticing: detailing decision-making process during or about classroom experiences, exploring latent beliefs and understanding of pedagogy versus teaching realities, reporting shifts in self-awareness. Such findings suggest that a structured portfolio, as a product of task-based approach towards professional development, creates a space that encourages experiential processing and identity formation - mindfulness-informed practice essential to a sustainable teaching career.
The study connects sustainable professional development and teacher education with mindfulness-informed practice by examining how structured reflection supports growth in emotional dealings, teacher identity formations and agency positioning. We argue to reimagine portfolio as not merely an assessment tool but also as a mindfulness-informed means to foster sustainable professional development. A reflective portfolio, then, supports mindful inquiry for professional and individual growth, promoting teacher well-being and long-term engagement in the profession.
Biography
Mr. Nguyễn Việt Hưng is currently a Teaching Assistant at the Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature, University of Social Sciences & Humanities, Vietnam National University Ho Chi Minh City (USSH, VNUHCM). He holds a Master's degree in TESOL from the same institution, where he also completed his undergraduate studies.
His academic interests include second language acquisition, teacher professional development, and social-emotional learning. In recent years, he has developed a particular interest in the role of mindfulness in education, especially in relation to teacher well-being and classroom practice. He has presented his research at international conferences and continues to explore topics related to emotional resilience and reflective teaching. In addition to his teaching duties, he supports undergraduate students primarily in developing their English-speaking skills and also serves as an academic advisor.
Ms. Tạ Huỳnh Xuân Nghi holds a Master’s degree in TESOL and is currently a lecturer at the Faculty of English Linguistics and Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU-HCM. Her interests lie at the intersection of teacher growth, digital pedagogy, and reflective engagement in language education. She began her career focusing on technology-enhanced language learning and now continues to explore the mindful integration of digital tools in ELT classrooms, one that blends teachers' technological competence with self-awareness. Her current work centers on teacher education and sustainable professional development through reflective practice. She has designed and facilitated the Professional Development for Language Teachers course in the Faculty's TESOL certificate program, which aims to help future teachers move forward in their career purposefully and professionally.
