Volume: 20  Number: 1  Page: 20–35  doi:10.2167/lcc324.0

Australian-Trained Vietnamese Teachers of English: Culture and Identity Formation

Phan Le Ha Faculty of Arts, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia

The identity formation of Australian-trained Vietnamese teachers of English is explored by looking at their experiences as TESOL (teaching English to speakers of other languages) students in Australia and as teachers of English in Vietnam. On the one hand, the paper consolidates the understanding of identity in relation to difference and multiplicity; on the other hand, it challenges the views of identity as being always changing, fragmented and having no sense of core or wholeness. It shows that a strong sense of a Vietnamese national/cultural identity is consistently constructed and confirmed by these teachers, despite their global mobility, and their being simultaneously ‘here’ and ‘there’. This understanding of identity has implications for TESOL teacher training.

Keywords: English language teaching, identity, TESOL, teacher identity formation, Vietnam

© 2007 Phan Le Ha

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