ABSTRACT
The professional development (PD) of language teachers, or language teacher education, is a field of inquiry in Applied Linguistics. Although it has been established as an independent domain of inquiry, it is relatively new, and few studies have examined PD for language teachers in relation to language policies in education. Teachers are the agents who implement language policies at the micro-level, and therefore, in order to ensure the effective implementation of any new scheme, PD must be incorporated into policy and planning. Both the Japanese and Vietnamese governments have designated the year 2020 as a milestone for instituting important changes in educational policies in order to be competitive in the rapidly changing international community, and English language teaching (ELT) is seen as a key element of such changes. Presenting chapters on PD for English teachers in the two countries in a single volume will shed light on some important aspects of ELT in Asian countries that have had to come to terms with the political, economic and cultural influences of the English language.
