‘How come they struggle with such simple work?’: parents’ perceptions of language teacher identity and teaching practice

This paper reports the results of a qualitative study that explores the perspectives of one group of parents on English language teachers’ identity and practice in primary schools in Vietnam. Grounded in mixed identity theories (self and others), this study uses in-depth interviews to reveal how these parents position English language teachers and teaching in these schools. The results suggest that two discourses underpin a hierarchical relationship between different primary school English language teachers, which, in turn, establishes and perpetuates a deficit view of those identified as ‘Vietnamese teachers’ of English. It is argued that calls for greater community involvement in language education policy must be accompanied by opportunities for all stakeholders to discover and critically examine the discourses that underpin their positioning of language teaching and teachers. Implications for designing and implementing language education policy to achieve such problematisation in practice are discussed and suggestions for future.