“INSPIRATION AND SUCCESS FOR ALL LEARNERS”: HOW DO VIETNAMESE EFL SCHOOL TEACHERS PERCEIVE THEIR ROLES AND WHAT STYLE OF TEACHER ARE THEY IN THE ERA OF INDUSTRY 4.0?

Abstract

This research is an attempt to highlight how Vietnamese EFL school teachers perceive their
roles and what style of teacher they are in this current changing world – the world of Industry 4.0. The
study involved a sample of 300 Vietnamese EFL school teachers throughout Vietnam. The instruments
employed for the research were three questionnaires intended to explore different aspects of EFL teachers’ perception of their roles. The data collected were analyzed quantitatively and were discussed in some detail. The research brought to light a number of significant findings of which five are prominent: (i) Vietnamese EFL school teachers displayed a relatively good understanding in identifying what roles are of traditional teacher style (TTS) and what roles are of modern teacher style (MTS); (ii) they rated as high and medium most of the roles of the TTS and reported having performed most of them; (iii) they rated as low some of the roles of the TTS but still kept on performing them; (iv) they rated as very high, high and medium most of the roles of the MTS, but only 2/3 of them were reported having been performed; and (v) they rated as medium many of the remaining roles of the MTS which belong to what has commonly been referred to in modern EFL/ESL pedagogy as the learner-centred approach in communicative language teaching (CLT), but the number of these roles reported having been performed were very modest. Based on the interwoven information obtained from the three questionnaires, it was suggested that although the era of Industry 4.0 is a reality, many of the Vietnamese EFL school teachers seem to be on the traditional side of the traditional ↔ modern teacher style scale. It is recommended that teacher role should be a legitimate component in all EFL teacher training and teacher professional development (PD) programmes in English teacher education departments/faculties in Vietnam to help EFL teachers be better familiarized with their roles, particularly those required in modern EFL/ESL education, so that they can perform their roles more effectively and more appropriately in their teaching for the success of their students as they move along their “journey of learning” (Pullias & Young, 1968: 32) a new means of communication.