Teacher Ideologies of English in 21st Century: The People’s Police Academy and New Directions for English Language Teaching

Abstract

The goal of English language teaching is to educate students for the demands of the global community now and in the future. In order to analyze locally applicable 21st century English language teaching (ELT), this essay investigates the ideology of English in society and English in higher education held by the People’s Police Academy teachers. Language ideologies create certain social realities that influence how instructors perceive English and contextually relevant ELT. Detailed interviews with 25 teachers at the People’s Police Academy produced the data. Using grounded theory methodologies, data were inductively processed to provide a conceptual framework of teacher ideologies. Findings show that English is not just a personal and frightening second language in contemporary Vietnamese culture. On the other hand, English in higher education is foreign, communicative, historical and cultural, humanistic, used for studying multidisciplinary material, and it is always changing. The last category looks into self-reflective issues instructors have with ownership and identity, diversity, technology, and global perspective. Findings point to the need for a metalanguage for English in non-native situations that better captures experiences in a world that is more varied and linked as we examine new approaches. Then, a current initiative to assist teachers in investigating fresh and locally relevant ELT directions is suggested.