Speakers
Description
This session reflects on how a postgraduate course on Second Language Acquisition (SLA) enabled teachers to conduct classroom studies that could bring SLA theory closer to classroom practice. Based on the perspective of instructed second language acquisition, two postgraduate classes were guided to collaboratively explore an aspect of second language acquisition that they wanted to impact. Each collaborative group developed and implemented a mini research project on specific instructional interventions in their real classrooms over a ten-week period to impact the learning of specific linguistic knowledge (e.g., vocabulary, grammar, pronunciation). Upon completion, they shared their projects and reflections on the SLA knowledge at a class seminar. The results of this implementation offer implications for how to narrow the gap between knowledge of second language acquisition and teachers’ classroom teaching. The projects also enabled the students to develop autonomous learning skills, which aligns with the sustainable development and educational goals of Vietnam.
Biography
Nguyen Van Loi is currently an Associate Professor at School of Foreign Languages, CTU. He has been engaging in teacher education both pre-service and in-service for over 25 years.
Chung Thi Thanh Hang has earned an MA degree in TESOL. She has gained extensive experience in training pre-service and in-service teachers of English in the Mekong Delta. She is currently a key trainer at School of Foreign Languages, CTU.
Le Do Thanh Hien is a PhD candidate, currently working for School of Foreign Languages, CTU. She has actively participated in training in-service teachers for the NFL project of Vietnam.