Identities of teachers from English speaking countries through discourses on teaching standard English in Vietnam

T p chí Khoa h c Ngôn ng  và Văn hóaạ ọ ữ ISSN 2525­2674 T p 3, S  1, 2019ậ ố
IDENTITIES OF TEACHERS FROM ENGLISH SPEAKING
COUNTRIES THROUGH DISCOURSES ON TEACHING
STANDARD ENGLISH IN VIETNAM
Le Thi Phuong Mai*
Thuongmai University
Received: 10/09/2018; Revised: 30/09/2018; Accepted: 22/04/2019
Abstract: The doctrine of English appropriateness has had a great impact on how to teach
English language all over the world. However, in this global era, the intercultural
interactions among non-native English users outnumber the contacts with the native ones,
which greatly challenges the popular discourses of standard English. Interestingly, through
analyzing the discourses in the facebook group of teachers from English speaking countries
as well as the discourses on teaching standard English for Vietnamese learners on the
media, the author has found out that there exists great discrimination among native and
non-native teachers in Vietnam, which has already been confirmed in many recent
researches in the field of discourses and identities. Significantly, this study also shows that
there is a strong internal conflict among native English speaking teachers, about the choice
of teaching standard English in Vietnam, through which their identities are constructed - the
key factor in international language teaching and educational collaborating.
Key words: Discourses, identity, native teacher, standard English
1. Introduction
Discourse as multi-dimensional concept 
The study concentrates on discourses of standard English teaching and learning and
discourse analysis of teachers’ narratives and discussions. Therefore, to determine the meaning
of discourse is of inevitably importance. There are many attempts to clarify the concept of
discourse from different linguistic and sociological perspectives, however, my thesis takes
Fairclough’s definition of discourse as a working concept, which could be relevant to the
purpose of the research and to the textual analysis of the data acquired from native teachers’
writings and talks: 
“Discourse and any specific instance of discursive practice, is see as simultaneously (i) a
language text, spoken or written, (ii) discourse practice (text production and text interpretation),
(iii) sociocultural practice” (Fairclough, 1995).
Discourses of standard English teaching and learning
In fact, discourses on teaching standard English is very poplular all over the world.
English is now used more as lingua franca between speakers of English as a second/foreign
language - including roughly 800 million users in Asia (Bolton, 2008) than for non-native
speakers to communicate with native speakers (Walinshaw & Oanh, 2014). Even in the US,
“English only” movement dominates the whole country as a lighthouse of English language
education (Lawton, 2013). Besides the discourse on the power of English in the global era, the
demand and effectiveness of learning with native English teachers are viral in any
* Email: mailtp.n@dhtm.edu.vn
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advertisements and means of media on promoting English proficiency of learners. In Vietnam,
the English professional forums and websites are full of job offers for native English speakers
ranging from teaching jobs in public, private and personal educational centers and groups. More
and more discourses on television and internet showing the considerable benefits of learning
English early with the teachers from English speaking countries. The media certainly makes us
think that learning with the native is the only key to great success in mastering English which
provides us with best opportunities for future jobs and bright career promotion.
On the other hand, there are a lot of criticism and comments of the teachers from English
speaking countries about the problems of pronunciation and methods of teaching English of
Vietnamese teachers of English. There are some videos even show that is it incomprehensible
for the native to listen to Vietnamese teachers making conversations or handling simple topics in
English. Moreover, these native teachers themselves greatly concern the application of standard
English in teaching Vietnamese learners. Some of them even take standard English competence
of teachers into consideration in classifying quality English teachers. 
Discourse analyis of Faiclough will be the main framework for the analysis of the
discourses which help construct their identities. Fairclough (1995) claims that the method of
discourse analysis includes linguistic description of the language text, interretation of the
relationship between the (productive and interpretative) discursive processes and the text, and
exlanation of the relationship between the discursive processes and the social processes. A
special feature of the approach is that the relation between sociocultural practice and text is
mediated by discourse practice; how a text is produced or interpreted, in the sense of what
discursive practices and conventions are drawn fom what order(s) of discourse and how they are
articulated together, depends upon the nature of the sociocultural practice which the discourse is
a part of; the nature of the discourse practice of text production shapes the text, and leaves
'traces' in surface features of the text; and the nature of the discourse practice of text
interpretation determines how the surface features of a text will be interpreted. Figure 1 shows
the illustration of Fairclough’s explanation for this:
Figure 1. Dimension of discourse
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Hence, through the particular replies and comments of the native teachers on their teaching
forums and blogs, the author intends to investigate the construction of their identities and get to
know what they actually bring to Vietnam in terms of perpective of standard English and cultural
viewpoints, values and beliefs which affect the learning and teaching in Vietnamese context. 
2. Literature review and theoretical framework
Identities of native English speaking teachers
To begin with, Beijaard, Meijer and Verloop (2004) characterized teachers’ professional
identities as an ongoing process of interpretation and reinterpretation of the individuals’
experiences. Emphasizing the role of agency in forming teacher identity, they contended that
teachers have to be active in professional development since teachers’ professional identity is
“not something teachers have but something they use in order to make sense of themselves as
teachers” (p. 123). They emphasized that a teacher’s identity cannot be separated from the
context in which he or she is located. Though an individual teacher’s agency is critical in
constructing her identity, it is constrained by the context. 
Recognizing the interplay of the agency and contextual influence in identity
construction
According to Bright (2012), identity is always contingent. Rather than something fixed and
internal, unchanging across time, identities are viewed as fragmented, multiple, conflicting and
contingent on time, context and practices. Identity is constituted through discourses - “ways of
being in the world” (Gee, 2011, p.4). Recently, Canh (2013), taking the feminist poststructural
perspective in the field of TESOL, has claimed that scholars have come to the conclusion that both
professional identities enables researchers to gain insights into how “the theoretical, the
professional, and the personal intermingle” (Edge, 1996, p.25 as cited in Canh, 2013) in the
process of teachers learning to teach (Canh, 2013). Furthermore, Barkuizen (2014) realizes that
narrative inquiry helps us to understand the inner mental worlds of language teachers and learners
and the nature of language teaching and learning as social and educational activity. From this
perspective, self-narratives, or the stories people tell about themselves, help us to understand the
ways in which individuals situate themselves and their activities in the world. Hence, narrative can
help to make visible taken-for-granted practices, and structural and cultural features of our
everyday social worlds (Chase, 2005, cited in Bathmaker & Harnett, 2010). 
Being well aware of the importance of teachers’ identities in English teaching, especially
the native English speaking teachers, a varitey of research into native speaking teachers’
identities in Vietnamese context, which have been carried out using narrative inquiry and critical
discourse analysis framework either pay attention to post-colonial and globalisation discourse in
confirming the distinctive advantage of the western racial teachers (Ha & Bright, 2011) or
concentrate on their lack of initiative in establishing relationships with colleagues. Thus,
concepts of identity defined in recent studies on teacher identity can be summarized as follows
(Varghese, Morgan, Johnston & Johnson, 2005, pp. 22-23): 
1) Identity is not a fixed, stable, unitary, and internally coherent phenomenon but is 
multiple, shifting, and in conflict. 
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2) The primacy of agency in identity formation: away from a structurally deterministic 
view of the fashioning of individuals to understanding individuals as intentional beings. 
3) Identity is not context-free, but it is crucially related to social, cultural, and political 
context – interlocutors, institutional settings, and so on. 
My study, which fits very well in this series of going insight into identities through
discourse analysis, also takes this definition of teacher identity as the working concept and
applies narrative and discourse analysis as the main framework (Fairclough, 1995; Bathmaker
and Harnett, 2010; Barkhuizen, Berson & Chik, 2014). Therefore, I approach identities of the
teachers from English-speaking countries through their natural discourses of their internal
teaching professional online groups and blogs, vlogs in stead of using direct interviews as a
single channel. In addition, the discourses being analyzed centralize the topic of standard
English assumption and application in Vietnamese context, which is so popular on the media. 
3. Methodology and scope of the study
The study involves some prominent discourses on the media such as Youtube videos of
Dan, an American teacher of English, and his conversations about comprehensible problems of
Vietnamsese teachers’ pronunciation, the conversations of teachers from English speaking
countries discussing the introduction of standard English to Vietnamese learners, and polular
blogs of native English teachers experiencing teaching jobs and everyday life in Vietnam. This
case study of Hanoi English teachers from English speaking countries proposing of standard
English teaching through online professional forums and blogs could only focus on their
discourse of standard English teaching and then realize their identities through these discourses,
which may not be generalized regarding the whole picture of their life and carreer in all parts of
Vietnam and may not fully portrait all qualities of these teachers in all other aspects.
The paper, however related to the analysis of different types of online discourses, remains
one kind of survey research which eventually requires personal in-depth interviews with three
native English teachers being aware of teaching correct English and ten volunteer Vietnamese
students learning with a native teacher in an economic university to work out the perpectives of
these teachers on standard English teaching and how they actually manage their classes from
their own viewpoints. Therefore, the instruments of the research are texts, videos and interviews
with the native teachers and Vietnamese students. In analysing the data, discourse analysis
(Fairclough, 1993, 1995; Flowerdew, 2013) and narrative framework (Barkhuizen, Berson &
Chik, 2014) are adopted as the analytical methods. In general, the qualitative approach
(Merriam, 2009) helps resolve the two research questions:
1. What are identities of teachers from English speaking countries in Vietnamese context 
through their discourses on standard English teaching?
2. Which activities are realized in the classrooms of the native English teachers bearing 
standard English teaching in mind?
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4. Findings of the study
4.1. Identities of teachers from English speaking countries in Vietnamese context through
their discourses on standard English teaching
4.1.1. Teaching standard English – in a conflict
There are both consensus and conflicts of teaching standard written English or practical
English in use between the young and non-trained native English teachers and the older and
well-trained ones. Many native English speaking teachers agree that some spoken language
expressions should not be used in English teaching environment in Vietnam.
Teaching only legitimate English
Michael Piek: “I am perturbed by teachers using the words gonna, wanna, lemme, gimme
and kinda, to name a few. These words are mistakenly referred to as ‘contractions’. Contractions
have apostrophes and are legitimate English whereas these words are classified as ‘vulgar
English’... Yes, they are widely used in conversational English, especially by Americans,
however, this doesn’t legitimate their use.
Go ahead, call me a grammar-nazi! In doing so you will be complimenting me as, although I
make mistakes, it is my job as a teacher correctly to the best of my ability. ‘Grammar-nazi’ is a
term coined by ‘pseudo-teachers’ to mask their own inadequacies”.
When referring to teaching English, some teachers even think of correct English and
IELTS score are the ultimate goal of Vietnamese learners’ English acquisition.
Adam Teach: “I couldn’t agree with you more Michael. Vietnamese who speak and write
correctly, do so very well and it is commendable. Use of these “American’ slang words however
does result in lower IELTS score”.
Teaching reallife English
A certain number of teachers also take this chance to discuss their knowledge of
phonology, culture and theoretical background to illustrate the disadvantages of teaching correct
English only. 
Austin Weaver: “It is your job teach students the English they will encounter in the world.
That is real spoken English. Your students’ listening skills are going to suffer because you refuse
to recognize how people actually speak. Those phrases are not vulgar or slang and no linguist
would agree with you. Also, it is a matter of pronunciation, not grammar. At least you are not a
grammar nazi”. 
Michael James Burkhart: “The difference is between the ‘spoken’ and ‘informal’ English
and the ‘written’ or the ‘formal’ English. Both must be recognized in order to prepare our students
for the ‘REAL WORLD’. For example: people at all levels of society use the words you spoke of.
They can be found everywhere in our music and in our culture. - They are everywhere in our
society. Therefore, we, as responsible teacher, who want to prepare our students for success in the
“real world” cannot ignore the reality of the language nor the reality of the culture”. 
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Being a good teacher- using correct English?
Some teachers either use sarcasm to show their disagreement or state their opinion of
teaching both formal and informal English. Furthermore, a teacher also claims that it is
unreasonale of some teachers to classify good or bad teachers based on their use of slang in
internal group conversations. 
Marty: “Let me say it differently. Anyone who suggest that teaching anything other than
correct English is acceptable is sadly mistaken.”
James Davis: “Micheal how you type on a Group, and how you teach conversational
English is totally different. Yes slang is normal in conversational English but do not judge
teachers based on typing lingo. Yes I personally teach formal and informal English speaking in
my classes to children.”
4.1.2. Correct pronunciation of the native - the only key to comprehensible communication
One of the critically hot issue in the media so far is the criticism of an American teacher
about the pronunciation of some Vietnamese teachers at an English center in Vietnam which
produced some online English instruction videos. A small extract from the video illustrates his
assumption that the native English speaker is the standard to evaluate the comprehensibility of
the non-native talks. 
Dan huer: “Yeah see, that’s the problem that a lot of Vietnamese people have is with the
final sounds. Vietnamese people really struggle with the difference between i: and i, Course, that’s
a... phraseology is weird for us, too, and it’s kind of an odd... The problem is with her grammar.
We wouldn’t say, “Students don’t hit like”, we would say ‘Students aren’t hitting like”.
4.1.3. Comfortable engagement in English teaching environment
Being well aware that they are native speakers, the teachers are experiencing new culture
and exploring themselves to enjoy meaningful and relaxing life despite having no prior teaching
qualifications or experience.
Early engagement in the teaching profession in Vietnam
- Qualification-free
William Lake, American: “As long as you are a native English speaker, it doesn’t matter
too much. A TEFL isn’t necessary, but usually preference is given to applicants that do have a
TEFL, so you might want to consider getting one. You can do internationally recognised
CELTAs in Vietnam though.”
- No prior experience
Mathew, American: “There were many days where I could not believe what I was doing
as I haven’t involved in teaching occupation before. Living in Vietnam was the biggest
adventure of my life so far... I learned that I can get by on my own and that challenge is to be
embraced. I can do it and so can you. People’s ambitions and lives are similar all over the world.
Living and working in another country helps break stereotypes and helps to form bonds that will
result in life-long friends that will stretch beyond country borders.”
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- No previous preparation
Frances, British: “Now, try and tell me this doesn’t sound appealing to a young girl with a
dream to see the world, working full time but getting nowhere saving money in the UK. Add in
that I’m a recent university graduate without a set career path or clear idea of what they want to
do and here I am! I am lucky that I don’t have any ties to the Scotland: no mortgage or careers
to leave behind. If you are in a similar situation, then there is literally no better time than the
present to take on a new adventure and teach English in Vietnam!”
- Realiable jobs available
Kirstie Woodward, American: “Vietnam is a crazy place to live in but an amazing place
to teach English. It’s easy to immerse yourself into the Vietnamese culture and it’s becoming a
more westernised country every day. Vietnam is a hub for teaching; there are teaching
opportunities everywhere you look without high qualifications or previous experience. You hear
some horror stories about not getting paid on time but for the majority of jobs, there are some
pretty reliable companies to work for. The beauty is that Vietnam is becoming a popular tourist
destination which means more and more people want to learn English. You can find
opportunities in schools, language centres and private tuition...”
Later engagement with teaching profession 
The teachers even suppose that teaching could be easy and useful for their next career
path other than being a teacher of English permanently. 
- As