Speaker
Description
Teachers’ mindsets toward research act as a catalyst for professional development in English language teaching. While there were theories of mindset in language teaching and case studies into educational research practices, the field lacks a comprehensive synthesis of how educators conceptualize research engagement. Addressing this gap, this study aims to both examine mindsets about research, drawing on dual theoretical lenses including the mindset framework (Dweck, 2006) and the teacher-research nexus (Borg, 2013), and demonstrate emerging trends in this field, such as participatory action research and influential factors on research productivity and engagement. The 12 peer-reviewed papers (8 empirical studies on trends and 4 theoretical works) were sourced from academic databases like Google Scholar and Scopus (2019 – 2025), employing a snowball sampling with keywords “research mindset”, “research practice”, and “research engagement” in the TESOL context. After a thematic analysis, the data were categorized into two themes: 1) the negotiation of teacher-researcher identities through mindset frameworks, and 2) contextual enablers and barriers to research engagement. The analysis revealed the role of growth mindsets in sustaining research engagement, uncovered critical mediators of research implementation, and offered guidance for teacher educators and administrators in fostering inquiry cultures.
Biography
Nguyen Thi Minh Hanh is a PhD candidate in Principles and Methods of Teaching at Can Tho University, Vietnam, where she was honored to be admitted directly to the doctoral program without completing a Master’s degree. In recognition of her early research contributions, her previous work has focused primarily on understanding group work dynamics in language education, where she has been fortunate to conduct complementary studies examining both student experiences and teacher perspectives. These investigations have led to three peer-reviewed publications and the opportunity to present at CamTESOL.
Building upon these experiences, Hanh’s current doctoral research explores teachers’ mindsets about research in English language teaching practices, with the hope of contributing to professional development practices in Vietnamese higher education. While still early in her academic journey, she has been grateful for opportunities to participate in various research roles, from assisting on institutional projects to leading small-scale investigations.
Hanh maintains research interests in communicative language teaching approaches and collaborative learning methodologies, though she recognizes there remains much to learn in these areas. She is particularly interested in how theoretical principles might be adapted to diverse classroom contexts, and remains committed to developing her understanding through ongoing study and collaboration with more experienced colleagues in the field.