MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY Primary school English teacher agency enactment in implemen�ng the English curriculum Major: Philosophy in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages DOCTORAL DISSERTATION HO CHI MINH CITY, 2024 i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP The Doctoral Dissertation titled “Primary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculum” has been submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. Except for the references cited in this dissertation, I hereby declare that the whole or parts of this dissertation have not been published or used to obtain the degree elsewhere. No other person’s work/ research may be used in this thesis that is not properly cited. This thesis had never been submitted for any degree at any other university or training institution.
Ho Chi Minh City, …/…/2024. Tran Thi Thao ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT “Primary school English teacher agency enactment in implementing the English curriculum” Doctoral Dissertation has been completed at Ho Chi Minh City Open University. I would like to express my deepest thanks and heartfelt attitude to those who have made contribution to my research journey. Firstly, my profound gratitude goes to my supervisors, Dr Le Thi Thanh Thu, and Dr Nguyen Huy Cuong for their expert guidance, wholehearted support, and comprehensive knowledge.
They spent a lot of time reading the drafts of the thesis, offered constructive advice for me to make useful improvements on my thesis, and shaped my research skills. I am deeply indebted to the Graduate Lecturers at Ho Chi Minh City Open University. Their deep knowledge and considerable experience have intensively improved not only my theoretical but also practical knowledge and laid the basic foundation for my research. I would like to thank Associate Professor Pham Thi Huong for her critical comments and Mr Le Minh Quang in the post-graduate post office for his continuous help during my research journey.
I wish to acknowledge the primary school English teachers who volunteered to participate in my study. Their life stories and professional stories have contributed to the completion of my thesis. The thesis would not have been completed without their enthusiastic support, voluntary help, and active encouragement. Finally, I am immensely grateful to my family, classmates, and friends.
Their real love, substantial assistance, and absolute belief have always encouraged me during my research journey. They have always the strong motivation for me to complete my thesis. iii ABSTRACT Teacher agency plays an importance role in teachers’ teaching performance as well as their operation of the curriculum as a consequence. Despite its significance in the curriculum reform, it received little attention from researchers in Vietnamese setting.
Researchers have conducted research into teacher agency under the National Foreign Language Project 2020 while little has been done on new general education curriculum issued by the MOET in 2018, particularly at the primary level which constitutes the largest proportion of the curriculum. Therefore, more studies should be carried out and looked into teacher agency at the primary level within the Getting-to-know-English curriculum. Grounded on the ecological model proposed by Priestley et al. (2015), the study examines teachers’ individual agency, collective agency, and the bilateral interactions between them to give impetus or hindrance to teacher agency enactment as a whole.
With the case study design, the study collected data from three sources namely documents, semi-structured interviews and observations. The findings found out that teachers showed their strong senses of individual agency which were enacted in four main forms: acceptance, resistance, hidden resistance, and adaptation. In addition to the three common forms mentioned in the previous studies, this study, however, identified another form of teachers’ individual agency, that is, hidden resistance. Most of the teachers demonstrated their hidden resistance to the prescribed lesson planning.
Certain factors were identified in this study to exert direct influence on the ways teachers enacted their individual agencies namely the professional development program, students’ parents’ expectations, time constraints, insufficient teaching resources, small classroom size, students’ learning outcomes, and students’ English proficiency level. The study also pointed out that teachers not only enacted their individual agency but also collective agency in the implementation of the curriculum, however, the role of the collective agency was blurred. More specifically, the collective actions did not significantly affect the individual agency of teachers in implementing certain aspects of the Getting-to-know-English curriculum namely teaching methods, assessment methods, teaching materials, mistake correction techniques, feedback giving, and classroom management. In addition, forms of teachers’ collective agency could be seen through teacher collaboration with their colleagues through lesson planning in the professional development program, peer observation discussions at the primary schools in the iv previous studies.
This study, however, identified another form of teachers’ collective agency, that is, informal meetings at the foreign language center. The study also revealed that two participating teachers had the tendency to adapt their colleagues’ ideas due to their previous professional experience. They made adaptation to their colleagues’ views based on their previous professional experience with the goal of suiting their students and helping them achieve their full potential of learning English. However, the other teachers showed their resistance to follow their colleagues’ ideas, which was informed by their habits, prior knowledge, time constraints, and isolation with their colleagues.
The ways teachers made individual contribution to the collective actions could also be seen through the peer observation discussion. Teachers could take the role of the leader, supporter, and follower in the peer observation discussion. The findings of the study provide pedagogical implications for MOET, textbook authors, and teachers, teacher education program, and primary schools. v Contents List of figures .xiv List of tables .xv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.
Background to the study. The curriculum reform. The Getting-to-know-English curriculum for Grade 1 and Grade 2. The issues of teachers in implementing the Getting-to-know-English curriculum.
Aims of the study. Scope of the study. Significance of the study. The organization of the thesis .10 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.
Agency from the sociological approach. Agency from the social cognitive approach. Agency from the positioning approach. Agency from the sociocultural approach.
Teacher agency and teacher agency enactment. Definition of teacher agency enactment. Types of teacher agency enactment. Ecological approach to teacher agency.
The iterational dimension. The practical-evaluative dimension of agency. The projective dimension of agency. Types of agencies.
The Getting-to-know-English curriculum. The design approach of the Getting-to-know-English curriculum. The Getting-to-know-English curriculum objectives. The Getting-to-know-English curriculum content.
Textbooks “Family and Friends” for Grades 1 and 2. Teaching English to young learners. Definition of young learners. Characteristics of young learners and teaching methodology.
Teachers’ individual agency enactment. Factors affecting individual agency enactment. Teachers’ collective agency enactment. Factors affecting teachers’ collective agency enactment.
The interactions between teachers’ individual agency and collective agency. The conceptual framework of the study. Summary of Chapter 2 .54 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. Tran Hung Dao primary school.
Bong Sao primary school. Participants of the study. Data collection instruments for the main study. Interviews before observing teachers’ individual agency in enacting the Getting-to-know-English curriculum.
Interviews after observing teachers’ individual agency in enacting the Getting-to-know-English curriculum. Interviews after peer observation discussions. Observations of teachers’ individual teaching practices. Observations of teachers’ collective actions and individual teachers’ contribution to the collective actions.
Data collection procedures. Data analysis methodology. Validity and reliability. The role of the researcher in the study .88 CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS.
The iterational dimension for Hoa. Hoa – a trained teacher with a three-year BA by a local college and two professional training programs. Hoa – an experienced communication teacher. The practical-evaluative dimension for Hoa.
A school culture of creativity and performativity. Good relationship between teachers. A school with insufficient teaching facilities. The projective dimension for Hoa.
Hoa’s expectation of her students’ communication skills. Hoa’s compliance with the curriculum mandated teaching methods, assessment methods, and lesson planning. Hoa’s common teaching methods: TPR and experiential learning .2 Hoa’s assessment method: communicative activities. Hoa’s lesson plan: follow the prescribed lesson plans.
Hoa’s adaptation to teaching content and her colleagues’ ideas. Hoa’s agency in teaching content: concentration on vocabulary and communication skills. Hoa’s colleagues’ ideas impacted her teaching methods, error correction techniques, teaching materials and feedback giving. Hoa’s contribution to the collective actions: a leader.
Hoa’s overall agency enactment. The iterational dimension for Hang. Hang – a trained teacher with a three-year BA by a local college and two professional training programs. Hang – a communication teacher.
The practical-evaluative dimension for Hang. Hang works under a culture of creativity and accountability outcomes. Good relationship between teachers and students’ parents. Insufficient teaching materials.
The projective dimension for Hang. Hang’s compliance with the prescribed teaching methods. Hang’s resistance to the prescribed lesson planning. Hang’s adaptation to teaching content, assessment methods, and her colleagues’ ideas.
Hang’s teaching content: focused on vocabulary and communication skills 109 4. Hang’s assessment methods: communication and writing activities. Hang’s colleagues’ ideas impacted her teaching methods, assessment methods, and mistake correction. Hang’s individual contribution to the collective actions: a supporter.
Hang’s overall agency enactment. The iterational dimension for Huong. Huong – a trained teacher with BA degree from a local college. Previous professional experience.
The practical-evaluative dimension for Huong. Huong – worked under the culture of open-mindedness and collaboration 118 4. Good relationship between teachers, teachers and students’ parents. Insufficient teaching materials.
The projective dimension for Huong. Huong’s irregular teaching methods: TPR and experiential learning. Huong’s resistance to the prescribed teaching methods, assessment methods, and lesson planning, her colleagues’ ideas. Huong’s common teaching methods: grammar-translation and audio- lingual 120 4.
Huong’s assessment methods: repetition and translation activities, workbook exercises, and final tests. Huong’s lesson plan: traditional. Huong’s colleagues’ ideas on her teaching methods, teaching activities, teaching materials, and classroom management. Huong’s adaptation to the textbook content: focusing on vocabulary pronunciation and spelling.
Huong’s individual contribution to the collective actions: a follower. Huong’s overall agency enactment. The iterational dimension for Nhi. Nhi – a novice teacher.
Nhi – an unexperienced teacher. The practical-evaluative dimension for Nhi. Nhi – working under a culture of sharing and traditionalism. Inadequate but felt satisfied.
The projective dimension for Nhi. Nhi’s compliance with the textbook content. Nhi’s teaching content: covering the textbook content. Nhi’s resistance to the prescribed teaching methods, assessment methods, lesson planning, and her colleagues’ ideas.
Nhi’s common teaching methods: grammar-translation and audio-lingual 134 4. Nhi’s assessment methods: repetition and translation activities, workbook exercises and final tests. Nhi’s lesson plan: traditional. Nhi’s colleagues’ ideas on her classroom management and teaching materials.
Nhi’s contribution to the collective actions: a follower. Nhi’s overall agency enactment. Summary of cases .144 Theme 1: Teachers’ individual agency in implementing the Getting-to-know-English curriculum. Teachers’ compliance with the prescribed teaching methods.
Teacher’ s compliance with the prescribed assessment methods and lesson plan 147 5. Teacher’s compliance with the textbook content. Teachers’ resistance to the prescribed teaching methods. Teachers’ resistance to lesson planning.
Teachers’ resistance to the prescribed assessment methods. Teachers’ adaptation to the textbook content. Teacher’s adaptation to the prescribed assessment methods. The influence of the iterational, practical-evaluative, and projective dimensions on teachers’ individual agency.
The influence of the iterational and practical-evaluative dimension on teachers’ enactment in teaching methods. The influence of the iterational, practical-evaluative, and projective dimensions on teachers’ enactment in teaching content. The influence of the iterational, practical-evaluative, and projective dimensions on teachers’ enactment in assessment methods .