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PEDAGOGY TRAINING COURSES IN THE MEKONG DELTA: 
EFL TEACHERS' SATISFACTION AND EXPECTATIONS 

 
Le Xuan Mai1*, Phan Thanh Dat2, Le Thanh Thao3 

1,3 Can Tho University, Can Tho, Vietnam 
2 Kien Giang College, Kien Giang, Vietnam 

 
thaole@ctu.edu.com 

 

ABSTRACT 

This study investigates EFL teachers’ expectations and satisfaction with the teaching 
pedagogy training courses in the Mekong Delta. The study was conducted on teachers of 
English in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, including 51 teachers answering the questionnaires, 
and six teachers were randomly invited for the interview. The results from the study 
revealed that the EFL teachers showed high expectations in the teaching pedagogy training 
courses. Significantly, the teachers expected to train on language teaching methodology, 
lesson planning, and technology the most. Additionally, most participants expressed high 
satisfaction with the teaching pedagogy training courses they had participated in. 
Remarkably, they were delighted with the program issues and academic aspects of training. 
The significant findings of this study were expected to contribute to the insightful 
understanding of EFL teachers’ needs. Based on the teachers’ needs, the study suggested 
solutions to improve the quality of further professional development training. 

Keywords: EFL Pedagogy Training, Mekong Delta, Teachers’ Expectations, Teachers’ Satisfactions 

INTRODUCTION 

Vietnam has been integrated widely and deeply into international relations in both 
regions and worldwide. For instance, Vietnam became a member of the Association of 
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1995, the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2007, 
and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in 2008. As a result, the necessity of 
enhancing the English competence for Vietnamese human resources is more significant. To 
improve the quality of English teaching and learning in the Vietnamese context, the Ministry 
of Education and Training (MOET) has approved the implementation of Vietnam’s National 
Foreign Language 2020 (NFL 2020). The ambitious project aims to enhance Vietnamese 
people’s language competencies that help them compete in the international job market.  

However, after nearly a decade of employing the project, the Minister of MOET, Mr 
Phung Xuan Nha, admitted that the project had no expected effects as the initial targets 
(Nguyen, 2017). The lack of qualified teachers was one of the fundamental reasons for 
project 2020. Consequently, the need to enhance teacher professional development becomes 
essential. Karimi (2011) finds that professional development can help improve teachers’ 
efficacy in teaching. In other words, teachers’ teaching strategies employed in classes are 
closely related to their knowledge and skills. Consequently, teachers can get new beliefs in 

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their capabilities and may interrupt or change their previous beliefs. Partaking in 
professional development training has helped improve teachers’ teaching practices and 
increase their students’ learning achievements (Desimone et al., 2002). 

The pedagogy training has gained special consideration by both teachers and educators 
in developing professional development. Postareff and colleagues' (2007) study found that 
pedagogy training plays an important role, a compulsory part of training teachers in Norway, 
the UK, and Sri Lanka, especially for teachers in higher education. Additionally, Lingard and 
colleagues (2003) described pedagogy as “the interrelated aspects of teaching and learning” 
(p.400). Inayati and Emaliana (2017) also agreed that pedagogy should be implemented 
under teachers’ beliefs about teaching and learning, mainly discussing teacher-centred 
education and student-centred learning. According to the findings of that study, the trainee 
teachers have performed more student-centred and less teacher-centred. Moreover, their 
teaching skills have also improved significantly. From the idea of “global thinking, local 
teaching” (Kramsch & Sullivan, 1996, p.200), an authentic ELT pedagogy is realized through 
teaching methodologies and materials. Participating in pedagogical training could improve 
teachers’ pedagogical thinking and teaching skills (Postareff et al., 2007). According to Voss 
et al. (2011), teachers’ pedagogical components include classroom management, classroom 
assessment, and understanding of teaching methods. In other words, language teaching 
methods are one of the critical pedagogical components that teachers must develop.  

In brief, plenty of training programs have demonstrated that enhancing EFL teachers’ 
competence is essential, so an investigation to improve the quality of professional 
development activities is vital. Teachers’ background, motivation, and program 
characteristics are three influential factors affecting teachers’ satisfaction with PD activities 
(Nasser & Shabti, 2010). Background characteristics, such as educational qualifications, 
teaching and learning experience, and school duties, are usually included in the PD activities' 
participation standards.  

Subsequent, familiar approaches view motivation as psychic and dynamic energy that 
encourages people to do tasks and comprehensively explain their activities (Helms, 2006). 
There is a separation between external and internal motivation (Ryan & Deci, 2000). The 
responses of externally motivated individuals are driven by considerations such as salary 
promotions, an educational degree, and development in the shape of their job or avoiding 
acquiescence such as losing status or circumstances. One’s intrinsic motivation is driven by 
inquisitiveness and affair. Recognizing the correlation between sources of the impulse to 
participate in PD and comfort can escort policy-makers in investigating productive 
techniques for boosting education personnel to engage in PD projects. The third set of 
variables that correlate to satisfaction from PD programs refers to program characteristics. 
Parts of the program should meet participants' needs and demands to feel fulfilled (Scollon 
et al., 2004). It depends on whether they are advantageous or disadvantageous to individual 
well-being, needs, and cultural norms. 

Among the domains and various competencies in MoET (2013), the present study 
primarily concentrates on the territory of knowledge of language teaching to investigate EFL 
teachers’ needs and expectations in the pedagogy training courses, including the 

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competencies regarding the language teaching methodology, lesson planning, conducting a 
lesson, assessment of language learning, resources technology for language teaching. 

Bui (2016) and Kazemi and Ashrafi (2014) are two typical studies on teachers’ 
satisfaction. Bui (2016) researched the in-service training program for Vietnamese primary 
school teachers of English. The participants were separated into three groups, including 100 
teacher participants answering the questionnaire, 30 participants participating in the 
course, and 17 school-head teachers. Both questionnaire and interview questions aimed to 
evaluate the in-service training program by focusing on content, methods, materials, 
management, teachers or trainers, objectives, acceptability, and attendance fee. The findings 
showed that all aspects of the program had positive comments from participants. 

In Kazemi and Ashrafi’s study (2014), in-service training programs were researched to 
help teachers stay up-to-date and address their practical teaching issues. Besides some 
essential elements of those programs like the mandate, time, and budgets, the study mainly 
scrutinized the adequacy of objectives (considering the weaknesses and strengths of those 
programs) for the trainee teachers. According to the qualitative data from the semi-
structured interviews, the study emerged into seven categories, including teachers’ needs, 
contents, teaching skills improvement, proficiency development, teachers’ motivation, and 
teachers’ involvement in making decisions. The findings revealed the lack of teachers’ 
expectations of in-service training programs in Iran. The participants of this study mostly 
gave negative perceptions and discussed the weaknesses of the programs. For example, they 
mentioned that the contents and topics were irrelevant to their needs, expectations, and 
practical teaching; they did not improve their proficiency and knowledge and commented on 
unqualified teacher educators. 

It is essential to investigate teachers’ expectations of offering practical training 
workshops. Igawa (2008) investigated the professional development needs of EFL teachers 
in Korea and Japan. Based on the hypotheses that (1) EFL teachers are professionals and (2) 
they need activities and processes for their ongoing growth, the researcher collected data 
from 44 teachers, including Japanese and Korean educational institutions, including 38 non-
native speakers and six native speakers. The result showed that EFL teachers in Japan and 
Korea are mainly concerned with teaching skills and methods, language improvement, 
communication skills, and others when participating in professional development activities. 

Zein (2017) also studied primary EFL teachers' and teacher educators' professional 
development needs. Consequently, the researcher tried to elucidate professional 
development activities' improved practice and effect. From the data obtained via semi-
structured interviews, teachers are expected to develop skills, including classroom 
management, error correction, lesson planning, giving feedback, teaching integrated skills, 
and working with various students. 

In addition, Nguyen (2018) also conducted a study on EFL teachers’ professional 
development needs in Bac Lieu city, the Mekong Delta, specifically related to the training 
programs' content, time, and formats. Moreover, to recognize the similar and different needs 
of EFL secondary and high school teachers, the researcher invited 62 participants to 
complete the questionnaire survey and semi-structured interview. The result indicated that 

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most participants showed strong expectations of developing their competencies. Moreover, 
the time and formats of professional development programs were also considered. 

Le and Nguyen (2019) employed a study on EFL teachers’ expectations of professional 
development training in Soc Trang province, Vietnam. Sixty-seven EFL teachers were invited 
to answer a questionnaire including seven main clusters language proficiency, language 
teaching methodology, lesson planning, conducting a lesson, assessing language learning, 
resources, and technology for language teaching. The findings indicated that most 
participants showed high expectations of those. Additionally, their experience also affected 
their satisfaction with the professional development programs. 

Although many researchers have investigated this area, few were born in the Mekong 
Delta. Furthermore, it is necessary to regularly conduct studies on teachers’ views on the 
training programs to adjust them in a timely manner. This study was conducted to fill in 
these gaps based on these reasons. 

METHODS 

Design 

This study was descriptive, mixed-method research using quantitative and qualitative 
approaches. Specifically, a questionnaire was considered a quantitative method and 
interviews believed a qualitative method was combined to answer all two research 
questions. First, the questionnaire investigated teachers’ needs and expectations when 
attending the teaching pedagogy training courses and teachers’ satisfaction levels with the 
system. Moreover, semi-structured interviews were employed to collect qualitative data to 
gain insight into teachers’ opinions about what they expect from the courses. 

Instruments - Questionnaire 

Fifty-one EFL teachers working in some high schools in Cantho city took part in the 
questionnaire, and their information is displayed in Table 1. 

Table 1. Participants for the questionnaire 

Variables Number Percentage 

Genders 
Male 19 37.3 

Female 32 62.7 

Degrees 

Bachelor 44 86.3 

Master 7 13.7 

Doctorate 0 0.0 

Teaching 

experience 

<5 years 22 43.1 

5-10 years 13 25.5 

11-15 years 14 27.4 

>15 years 2 4.0 

In this study, the questionnaire was designed with forty-two items. There are two main 
sections involved in the questionnaire. Those are described in Table 2. 

  

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Table 2. Summary of the questionnaire 

 Cluster Items 

EFL teachers’ satisfaction levels 

of the teaching pedagogy training 

courses 

Non-academic aspects 1, 2, 3 

Academic aspects 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 

Reputation 11, 12, 13, 14 

Access 15, 16, 17 

Programs issues 18, 19 

EFL teachers’ expectations of the 

teaching pedagogy training 

courses 

Language teaching methodology  20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 

Lesson planning 26, 27 

Conducting a lesson  28, 29, 30 

Assessment of language learning 31, 32 

Resources 33, 34 

Technology 35, 36 

To ensure the validity and reliability of the questionnaire, the online questionnaire was 
piloted among seventeen EFL teachers in some parts of the Mekong Delta. They have similar 
backgrounds and experience participating in teaching pedagogy training courses. After the 
piloted questionnaires were collected, the data was analyzed on IBM SPSS Statistics 20. The 
result showed that the reliability of the questionnaire with 36 items was high (α=.93>.70). 
In other words, the questionnaire was reliable enough to gather the data for the present 
study. 

Instruments - Interview 

After completing the questionnaire, six teachers were randomly chosen to continue 
with the interview for further information. Table 3 displays the information of the 
participants for interviews. 

Table 3. Participants for the interview 

 A B C D E F 

Gender Male Male Female Female Male Male 

Qualification Bachelor Bachelor Bachelor Bachelor Bachelor Bachelor 

Teaching experience 5 years 2 years 20 years 8 years 6 years 8 years 

 The current study employed the semi-structured interview to gain insights into six EFL 
teachers’ expectations of the teaching pedagogy training courses. For each main question, 
there were some sub-questions to gain further insights from the conversations. 
Furthermore, the interview questions were translated into Vietnamese versions to ensure 
the respondents’ deep understanding of the questions and the research validity and 
reliability. Each interview was voice-recorded to save all precious information. The 
transcripts were sent back to the respondents, who helped check the meaning before the 
data were analyzed. 

  

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RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 

Participants’ Satisfaction with PD Activities 

Table 4 presents the results of a Descriptive Statistic Test on the teachers’ satisfaction 
with the teaching pedagogy training courses. 

Table 4. The teachers’ satisfaction with the teaching pedagogy training courses 

Clusters N Min Max Mean SD 

Non-academic aspects 51 2.00 5.00 3.88 .72 

Academic aspects 51 2.57 5.00 3.96 .65 

Reputation 51 2.75 5.00 3.93 .64 

Access 51 3.00 5.00 3.92 .61 

Program issues 51 3.00 5.00 4.01 .64 

Mean satisfaction 51 2.95 5.00 3.94 .57 

According to the results, the mean score of teachers’ satisfaction levels with the 
teaching pedagogy training courses was high (M=3.94), and this also means the EFL teachers 
were delighted with the teaching pedagogy training courses in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. 
After the One-way ANOVA tests were run, there was no difference found among groups of 
participants in terms of their information, namely teaching experience, qualifications, and 
gender (t=-.69, df=50, p=.50>.05). Therefore, the teachers in this study had high satisfaction 
with the courses. Their satisfaction was not affected by any elements related to their 
demographic information. This finding is different from Kazemi and Ashrafi (2014), who 
found that EFL teachers in that study were disappointed with the training courses because 
the training did not meet their needs. 

As observed in Table 4, the highest mean score belonged to program issues (M=4.01), 
and the lowest was for non-academic aspects (M=3.88). It could be concluded that the 
teachers were most satisfied with the courses aiming to train them in terms of program 
issues, and the satisfactions for non-academic aspects were the least. However, after running 
the Pair-sample t-Tests, the insignificant differences among these clusters conclude that the 
teachers were satisfied with all types of courses at the same level. 

Moreover, the teachers were delighted with the trainers. The shreds of evidence are 
stated based on the teachers' responses to those items representing issues related to the 
trainers, such as their knowledge, preparation, logical instructions, clear explanations, 
and persuasive answers. Besides that, the teachers also felt appreciated for the reputation of 
the courses, the evaluation of the programs, and the goals and objectives of the courses. 
Furthermore, the qualitative data shared similar views that explain more about why the 
teachers were happy with those training courses: 

• The teachers were satisfied with the trainers in terms of their knowledge and their 
instructions. 

• The applicable content of the courses also played an essential role in enhancing the 
teachers’ satisfaction. 

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• The teachers were motivated by the trainers' gifts during the course. 

• The good-looking or well-organized trainers impressed and inspired the teachers to be 
engaged. 

 Interviewees B and D said, 

Generally, I was pretty content with those training courses. Firstly, I was delighted with the 
quality of the duration since the instructors were well-prepared and knowledgeable. The 
instructed knowledge was up-to-date and practical, so I could apply it to my classes 
immediately. Also, those courses were free for participants, but they could get some presents 
when they actively participated in the activities or gained outstanding performances during 
the courses. So, it made me motivated and unpressured. (Teacher D, Female, 8 years of teaching 
experience, Bachelor) 

My most remarkable impression about the training course was the training contents. I mean 
the linguistic knowledge and teaching methods the instructors introduced in the course. To be 
honest, it was novel for me. In some cases, I gained benefits when applying those to my classes. 
I highly respected how they prepared the lessons, presented the lectures, and organized 
classroom activities regarding the instructors. They were knowledgeable and good-looking. 
Also, the related procedures were not complicated. (Teacher B, Male, two years of teaching 
experience, Bachelor) 

On the contrary, the findings also showed that the teachers might feel unhappy with the 
class size, the equipment, the unqualified infrastructure, the institutions running the 
programs, and especially the balance of theory-practice in the courses. In the interviews, 
they also complained about the class size. Interviewees B and D stated, 

I think the class size was problematic. Because of the crowded classes, some training activities 
could not occur as smoothly as the instructors expected. (Teacher D, Female, eight years, 
Bachelor) 

Because of my first participation in the training course, I did not record any difficulty or 
unsatisfied situations. However, the course I participated in was crowded, so I think it was hard 
for the instructors to include all participants in their training activities. (Teacher B, Male, two 
years of teaching experience, Bachelor) 

In summary, the teachers were delighted with the courses, and their satisfaction was 
not affected by any elements related to their demographic information. It is different from 
Nguyen (2018), who found that teaching experience did affect teachers’ satisfaction with the 
training courses in the study. They felt happy with the trainers, the reputation of the courses, 
the evaluation of the programs, and the goals and objectives of the courses. The findings are 
also different from Kazemi and Ashrafi (2014), who indicated that teacher educators or 
trainers are why EFL teachers in the study were unsatisfied with the training courses. 
However, the findings of this paper were in line with those in Bui (2016); EFL teachers in the 
study also gave much positive feedback on the training courses. In the current study, some 
aspects should be improved: the class size, the equipment, the unprofessional appearance of 
the training institutions, the institutions running the programs, and especially the balance of 
theory-practice in the courses. These findings, somehow, share the same views with Bui 

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(2016), who found that some courses did not meet ELF teachers’ needs as they could not 
achieve what they had expected. In Nguyen (2018), the contents or formats of the 
professional development programs were reconsidered by the participants in the study. 

Participants’ expectations for PD activities 

A Descriptive Statistic Test was run to see teachers’ expectations of the teaching 
pedagogy training courses in general. The results are presented in Table 5. 

Table 5. Descriptive statistics of teachers’ expectations of the teaching pedagogy training courses 

Clusters N Min Max Mean SD 

Language teaching methodology 51 3.33 5.00 4.36 .41 

Lesson planning 51 3.50 5.00 4.29 .42 

Conducting a lesson 51 3.00 5.00 4.04 .48 

Assessment of language learning 51 2.00 5.00 3.69 .76 

Resources 51 2.50 5.00 3.70 .62 

Technology 51 1.50 5.00 3.41 .88 

Mean expectations 51 3.35 5.00 4.03 .36 

Table 5 shows that the mean score of teachers’ expectations of the teaching pedagogy 
training courses was high (M=4.03). The mean score (M=4.03; SD=.36) and the test value of 
4.0 also confirmed the conclusion above (t=.62; df=50; p=.54). Therefore, teachers' 
expectations of the teaching pedagogy training courses were high. The findings are similar 
to Nguyen (2018) and Le and Nguyen (2019), who found that EFL teachers are highly 
expected in professional development programs. In contrast, those are different from 
Kazemi and Ashrafi (2014), who indicated that EFL teachers lack expectations on training 
courses. Furthermore, Table 5 also states that the mean scores of the six clusters of teachers’ 
expectations of the teaching pedagogy training courses ranged from 3.41 to 4.36. The highest 
mean score belonged to language teaching methodology (M=4.36), and technology got the 
lowest (M=3.41). The teachers expected to learn about language teaching methodology the 
most and wanted to know about technology at the lowest level. 

Specifically, in terms of participants’ expectations of language teaching methodology, 
except for practising teaching skills, all other items in this cluster, including teaching 
techniques, lesson planning, or strategies for conducting a lesson, are highly anticipated. It 
can be inferred that the teachers were confident in their teaching skills, and what they 
needed to improve was to know, apply, and use more strategies and techniques to integrate 
four basic skills with different types of students for honest conversations. In the interviews, 
nearly all participants showed that they also expected to use various strategies and 
techniques to integrate the four skills for authentic communication. Interviewee D 
expressed, 

In terms of teaching methodology, I want to be trained in the ways to integrate teaching, 
listening, speaking, reading, and writing towards the orientation of developing students’ 
competence. (Teacher D, Female, eight years of teaching experience, Bachelor) 

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The strict consideration of the orientation of competence-based teaching was 
explained as meeting the new educational goals that emphasize developing students’ 
competence, and the teachers must up-to-date their professional knowledge. Remarkably, 
the new textbooks were piloted and applied, and there were no other choices for the teachers 
whose expectations for some training to approach new strategies and techniques to teach 
the four skills. For instance, Interviewee A remarked, 

I want to learn and approach new teaching methods appropriate to the current change, 
especially teaching methods, to develop students’ competence. Because I have not done well in 
that case, I have concentrated on teaching grammatical points and content related to students’ 
examinations. (Teacher A, Male, five years of teaching experience, Bachelor) 

Interviewee B added, 

Because the Ministry of Education and Training has been adapting and introducing new 
textbooks, thus if teachers are not trained well, they cannot achieve the expected target 
(Teacher B, Male, two years of teaching experience, Bachelor) 

Besides that, participants also wanted to learn more methods to identify students’ 
needs. In conclusion, the teachers showed high expectations of knowing more strategies and 
techniques to integrate all skills in a lesson. Moreover, they needed training on applying and 
using these strategies or techniques effectively for different students whose needs are 
entirely different. Besides that, the teachers somehow showed their confidence in their 
teaching skills. These findings aligned with Igawa's (2008) study found that EFL teachers’ 
main concerns are their teaching skills and methods, competence, and communication skills. 
Besides that, the findings are similar to Zein (2017), who indicated that EFL teachers expect 
to improve their pronunciation and speak to give instructions better, learn how to integrate 
different skills in a lesson, and use more strategies to cater to students’ learning styles. 
Moreover, Nguyen (2018) also shared that EFL teachers showed strong expectations of their 
competencies development. 

For participants’ expectations of lesson planning, the teachers were highly willing to 
learn and design more lesson plans, assignments, and activities for applying to their 
classes. Although several teachers were confident in planning lessons, five of six interviewed 
teachers agreed that it was essential to participate in training courses that train them to 
design assignments, activities, and games to integrate the 4-skills effectively. For example, 
Interviewee F said, 

In my opinion, learning more assignments or activities to develop students’ competence was 
good. (Teacher F, Male, eight years of teaching experience, Bachelor) 

It is conspicuous that the teachers have high expectations of improving lesson planning 
to participate in the teaching pedagogy training courses. It also supports the findings from 
Zein (2017), who indicated that EFL teachers want to learn more about lesson planning. 

It was related to participants’ expectations of conducting a lesson. The majority of 
participants highly expected to create a supportive and meaningful learning environment. 
Likewise, the participants all wanted to learn something related to effectively carrying out 

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the lesson plans to give students significant chances to communicate in English. Compared 
to the ideas just mentioned, the teachers had a lower expectation of courses aiming to train 
them to manage classroom activities for authentic communication. Regarding the interview 
findings, some exceptionally experienced teachers are less expected to conduct lessons 
because of their confidence in this area. Interviewee F stated, 

I am confident in creating a good learning environment or carrying out my lessons. Therefore, 
I wonder why I need those kinds of training. (Teacher F, Male, eight years of teaching 
experience, Bachelor) 

However, not all of the teachers felt the same. The inexperienced teachers also wanted 
to participate in the training courses of conducting lessons to meet the students’ needs. 
Interviewee A expressed,  

I like teaching methods that flexibly catch up with students’ needs but are not hard and 
compulsive as traditional ones. (Teacher A, Male, five years of teaching experience, Bachelor) 

Although this cluster's results were not high compared to the previous ones, the 
teachers were still highly expected. Furthermore, this cluster also shared a new finding that 
teaching experience somehow affected the teachers’ expectation of their willingness to 
participate in these courses. Specifically, the more experienced teachers tended to expect 
from other types of courses rather than those aiming to train how to manage classroom 
activities because they were confident in doing these things in their classrooms. On the other 
hand, novice teachers would love to join in the courses training them on how to conduct 
lessons to meet students’ needs. This finding shares the same vein with Zein (2017), who 
found that EFL teachers love to develop their classroom management skills. 

In investigating participants’ expectations of language learning assessment, just half of 
the teachers desired to be trained in formative and summative assessment tools and 
techniques. However, nearly three-quarters still wanted some training to develop their 
abilities to design and use age-appropriate assessment tools. It can be inferred that instead 
of learning more tools or techniques related to formative and summative assessment, they 
tended to have more training in designing and using these tools effectively. It can be 
explained well throughout the findings from the interview. Interviewee D stated, 

I have participated in those courses so far, so I do not have to join those again. (Teacher D, 
Female, eight years of teaching experience, Bachelor) 

Furthermore, one of the teachers showed very high expectations of applying online-
assessing programs or online tests. Interviewee B asserted, 

I significantly want it. Especially those are online testing or examining programs. (Teacher B, 
Male, two years of teaching experience, Bachelor) 

In conclusion, the teachers did not want to learn more about summative and formative 
assessment tools as they had previously participated in many courses. However, it does not 
mean that they did not care about assessment. They wanted to apply new ways of evaluating 
students’ progress, namely online testing or evaluation software. 

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Regarding participants’ expectations of resources, the teachers were less interested in 
those training. Just half of the teachers responded to the items positively. These results also 
were explained well in the findings of the interviews. Interviewee F stated, 

I think it is good to participate. However, being an experienced teacher in a high school, I find 
that the contents of the textbooks are diverse and much, so extra learning resources are just 
used to give extra assignments to students. (Teacher F, Male, eight years of teaching experience, 
Bachelor) 

To conclude, the teachers would like to find more professional books, newspapers, and 
the like to use in their teaching. However, they found conveying everything in the required 
textbooks challenging. It led to the finding that the texts' contents were used for further 
assignments or homework only. Then, it downed their willingness to participate in the 
training regarding resource use. 

Finally, in the participants’ technology expectations, nearly two-thirds wanted to be 
trained in using technology for language teaching and learning, especially using PowerPoint 
in their teaching. The teachers frequently used this application to make the lessons more 
exciting. Interviewee E remarked, 

I think it is essential. Now, I frequently introduce some teaching activities and games with 
PowerPoint slides; I usually show videos for teaching purposes. (Teacher E, Male, six years of 
teaching experience, Bachelor) 

In terms of basic computer skills courses or programs, they seemed unsure or unwilling 
to study more. The data of the interviews also provided a view of this finding. Specifically, 
the teachers are highly expected to be trained in online testing programs. However, age 
seemed to be an obstacle for them to catch up with the rapid technological development. 
Interviewee C said, 

In this field, I am not confident. My colleagues have instructed me to use PowerPoint, but I am 
still not confident using it. Maybe, it is hard for the old to improve it. (Teacher C, Female, 20 
years of teaching experience, Bachelor) 

In conclusion, the teachers were interested in learning more about using technology in 
their teaching. However, some obstacles related to their ages prevented them from studying 
more about technology. Interestingly, PowerPoint, a specific computer program developed 
by Microsoft Corp., enhances the teachers’ expectations of participating in training related 
to using technology in teaching. 

CONCLUSION 

The current study found that the teachers were delighted with the training courses. 
The teachers are delighted with the trainers, the reputation of the courses, the evaluation of 
the programs, and the goals and objectives of the courses. However, several aspects needed 
improvement. Specifically, they were the class size, the equipment, unqualified 
infrastructure, the institutions running the programs, and especially the balance of theory-
practice in the courses. 

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Regarding expectations for PD, the teachers are expected to join in more training 
courses on language teaching methodology, lesson planning, and conducting a lesson. 
However, they also showed a lower level of willingness to learn more about assessment of 
language learning, resource adaption, and using technology in teaching. 

The current study's findings brought many benefits to the Vietnamese educational 
system and administrators. First, the teachers had opportunities to raise their voices and 
express their expectations of what they wanted to improve or benefit from through the 
teaching pedagogy training courses. Specifically, they shared many reasons why they need 
some specific training courses in terms of methodology. 

Additionally, the findings of this study should be evidence of the high quality of the 
providing pedagogy training that occurred so far, which was expressed by teachers’ 
satisfaction levels. Therefore, the Vietnamese MoET should continue these training courses 
to improve the teachers’ abilities in teaching. Also, the findings provided a better view for 
conducting more courses that potentially meet the teachers’ needs. 

Last but not least, based on the findings of this study, educational administrators or 
educators can avoid the weaknesses of previous courses. In another way, they should 
continue promoting the strengths and improving former professional development training 
shortcomings. 

The sample size is a remarkable limitation of this study. Therefore, further research 
should be conducted on an enormous population to generalize the findings. Besides, 
classroom observations should be considered to investigate more significant findings. Also, 
teacher trainers’ viewpoints should be profoundly presented to help enhance the quality of 
professional development training. 

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e-ISSN: 2723-4126 
p-ISSN: 2776-8880 

 

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