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Contemporary literature in English language teaching shows some impacts of oral narrations on learners’ speaking competence and phonological processing. However, little research has explored the relationship between this methodological practice and young learners’ L2 reading comprehension. This paper investigates the effect which story retelling has on young English learners’comprehension of reading. The researchers employed quantitative and qualitative approaches. Forty children were chosen from two different classes of a comparable level of proficiency and assigned into two groups for a two-month treatment. The results show that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group on the reading comprehension posttest. The questionnaire and observation data also indicated that the children responded positively to story retelling and that story retelling brought about excitement in the reading class, motivated young learners to read as well as shaped young learners’ behaviours and attitudes. This study suggests using story retelling more often in L2 language programs for young learners.

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Driven by the concept of mediation, this study is set out to use sociocultrual theory as the theoretical framework to explore the mediation role of textbooks, specifically, the series Northstar in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) university classes in Vietnam. Learning journals with guided questions are employed to collect data on how different aspects of English textbooks assist students’ learning in the classroom. Besides, transcripts of recorded classroom obervations are analysed to interpret how the textbooks formulate and faciliate students’ ideas related to the given tasks and generate their interaction in both the target language and the mother tongue. It is found from the students’ journals that the textbooks assist them in understanding the lesson contents and the images help them with visualizing the lessons. Besides, the students make use of the tasks/activities when practising language skills, especially the listening skill. The transcripts reveal the process in which students refer to their previous knowledge related to the topics/tasks provided in the textbooks to interact with one other. More speficially, the tasks and the ideas of other group members mediate more thoughts of the students, leading to  collective knowledge construction and task completion. From the findings, recommendations for the use of textbooks in the framework of sociocultrual theory are put forward.

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This study explores the experiences of two high school students learning English in rural Vietnam through the lens of ecological systems theory. It also aims to gain in-depth insights into learners’ constructions of motivation within the nexus of personal and ecological elements. Data gathering spanned approximately 18 months and was based primarily on interviews, observations, and written and visual reflections. The analytical procedures drew on deductive category application in which pre-formulated theoretical constructs were used for content analysis. Findings show that given the constraints of rural context, the learning experiences of the two participants were vividly unfolded through their dynamic role in perceiving and evaluating language resources, support and learning opportunities, and their ongoing interaction with elements within and across ecosystems. Such processes contributed to shaping the ways in which these learners constructed their L2 motivation against the challenges in their lifeworld. The study reiterates the importance of examining motivation in context, incorporating both personal and ecological aspects underpinning language learning at both micro and macro levels. It calls for dialogues, discussions and negotiation among various educational stakeholders in creating language environments and opportunities for learners in rural settings.

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With its prevalence as a global language, universities in Vietnam have striven to enhance students’ proficiency in English. This endeavor responds to the language requirements set by Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MoET), the prominence of English as a medium of instruction in higher education, and the necessity of preparing students for better employability. This study focuses on General English programs currently deployed in most universities in Vietnam in terms of expected learning outcomes, course design and assessment practices. Drawing on document analysis, it examines the General English program of a public university and a private one in Ho Chi Minh City in relation to these three components. Findings show that these universities conformed to MoET’s policy on language education but developed different approaches to language program design and assessment in order to achieve their respective learning outcomes and ensure the quality of language learning and teaching in their own contexts. This study provides course designers, coordinators and language teachers with in-depth understandings of the deployment of General English programs and the theoretical bases underpinning such processes. These insights will enable them to become more aware of the elements constituting such programs and the considerations to be taken in updating and innovating the language curricula.

 

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The present research explores the trajectory of changing emotions throughout the lifelong experience of English language learning and language use among English-as-an-Additional-Language (EAL) students at a Vietnamese university. It employs a qualitatively-driven mixed methods research design with two phases of data collection using initial and exploratory self-designed questionnaires, followed by semi-structured interviews and reflective journals. The quantitative data, collected from English majored students aimed to capture the range of emotions the participants experienced in speaking English. The qualitative data, collected from the students recruited from the questionnaire phase, revealed the complexity and dynamism of their emotions in the process of language learning and use. The findings show that the participants experienced shifting emotions across the different contexts of language learning, including school, out-of-school, and tertiary contexts. The emotions were seen to be dynamic, socially and contextually constructed, emerging from their social circumstances and interaction with others. They were interwoven with self-concept, language learning success, perceived standing in different communities, and relationships with others. The results also provide theoretical and practical implications for emotion research and pedagogies of EAL teaching and learning.
 

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This sociocultural theory-based study investigates how professional development activities mediated novice EFL teachers in their teaching careers. Four volunteer novice teachers in their two-year probation time participated in the study. Each novice teacher wrote a narrative every month in a semester and was interviewed at the beginning and end of that semester. Data from all the narratives and interviews disclose that the institutional context with much teaching workload, mandatory research, and involvement in administration-related work provide the affordances for the novice teachers to internalize their understanding of the duties of English lecturers and drive to practice those duties. Besides, the professional development activities in teaching, researching and others are reported to lead to growth in the understanding, experience as well as confidence level of novice teachers. From the findings, implications are put forward to how to provide support to mediate the professional growth of early-career teachers.