EFL TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS AND PRACTICES REGARDING THE TEACHER ROLES IN PROJECT-BASED LEARNING

Abstract

The study aims at examining EFL teachers’ perceptions on their roles and how they occupy these roles in project-based learning at a Vietnamese state university. Narrative interviews were employed to collect qualitative data with the participation of five teachers at the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology and Education. The results revealed that the teachers were not fully aware of their roles while implementing the project strategy and the reality of playing their roles was parallel to their perceptions. The role as a project organizer was the most well-identified and well-practiced, followed by the role as a project evaluator. However, the roles as a facilitator and an advisor were less noticed and neglected in their instruction practice. The research findings have contributed to shed some light on teachers’ understanding and practices regarding their roles in applying project work in teaching English as a foreign language in the context of Vietnam, which emphasizes the call for the educational administrators’ attention to the support of teacher professional development to boost teaching effectiveness in the future.