The government’s policy on EFL teacher professional development: Opportunities and challenges for the Mekong Delta

Dang Vu Hoai Nhan *

* Corresponding author (dvhnhan@gmail.com)

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Received: 20 Jan 2018
Revised: 26 Jun 2018
Accepted: 30 Nov 2018
Published: 03 Nov 2018
DOI: 10.22144/ctu.jen.2018.037
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Dang, V. H. N. (2018). The government’s policy on EFL teacher professional development: Opportunities and challenges for the Mekong Delta. CTU Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development , 54(10), 45-53. https://doi.org/10.22144/ctu.jen.2018.037
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No. 10 (2018)

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Abstract

This paper is intended as a contribution towards understanding recent professional development in the government’s policy for English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. The paper offers an account of opportunities and challenges facing EFL teachers in language proficiency training courses. A questionnaire was administered to 61 EFL teacher-as-learners from seven cities and provinces in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam to investigate their opportunities and challenges in improving language skills in language proficiency training courses. The results of the study show that high school EFL teachers made use of the opportunities of the Vietnamese government’s policy for professional development to improve their four English language skills. However, they were challenged by the problems related to the expense and time when taking these courses.
Keywords: Opportunities and challenges, language proficiency training courses, teacher professional development, Vietnamese government’s policy

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