ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the recent innovation in English language education in Vietnam, which is aimed at strengthening the country’s economic competitiveness. It examines the nexus of the ideology behind the innovation, the sociocultural and educational context within which the innovation is embedded, and the adequacy of language teacher competence with respect to the requirements of the innovation. Then the chapter discusses major challenges that emerge from the analysis of these three connected elements. Overall, the chapter shows the gap between aspirations, actual practice, and challenges as well as why that gap exists. The chapter concludes with recommendation that Vietnamese policymakers look out for global professional discourses on the one hand and be grounded in their country’s culture and mind, histories and geopolitics, on the other. Such endeavours are worthwhile to the development of locally and culturally relevant pedagogy that guarantees sustained successes in local ELT
