ABSTRACT
Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) is becoming increasingly visible in education policy in Vietnam, but the focus has mainly been on in-service school teachers’ implementation of TBLT, rather than on pre-service teacher education. This chapter discusses Vietnamese teacher educators’ perceptions of education policies as affordances for their preparation of pre-service EFL teachers for TBLT. Drawing on an ecological perspective, the qualitative study presented in this chapter examined teacher educators’ perceptions of TBLT. Data were collected from (1) individual interviews of eight teacher educators from two Vietnamese education colleges, (2) demonstration classes observed by both peer participants and the first author, and (3) focus group discussions between demonstration participants and observing participants. Relevant ELT policies were also reviewed. Thematic analysis of the data indicated a lack of collaboration between teacher educators and policymakers responsible for ELT reforms. Teacher educators’ understandings around and enactment of TBLT were found to be related to policies other than those directly related to the reforms. In discussing Vietnamese teacher educators’ appropriation of TBLT, in the chapter we suggest that general education policies – and not only TBLT-specific policies – have the potential to provide teacher educators with opportunities to engage with TBLT in their own professional learning and subsequent teaching.
