Speakers
Description
This multimodal visual collective autoethnography explores our experiences of teacher precarity in the Vietnamese context of English language teaching
Keywords
teacher precarity, emotion labor, collective autoethnography,
Short summary
This multimodal visual collective autoethnography explores our experiences of teacher precarity in the Vietnamese context of English language teaching
Abstract
We gather in this study to claim a space for community of personal and collective reflection toward professional practice in the context of English teachers’ emotional wellbeing and professional development in the contemporary Viet Nam. The study is timely significant as a critical response to the political shift of Viet Nam’s language education when recently the Ministry of Education and Training has announced the plan to make English the second not foreign language through general education by 2035. This transition emphasizes the role of teachers as key agents in the national plan but continues to attend less to teachers’ professional growth and wellness. The study is multimodal visual collective autoethnography to explore our experiences of teacher precarity in the Vietnamese landscape of English language teaching. Drawing on Benesch’s emotion labor theory, Foucault’s power/knowledge theory, and Bronfenbrenner’s bio-ecological theory, we discuss how institutional and professional structures shape teachers’ lives and identities. We offer narrative vignettes on precarity that can be understood through gendered norms, credentialism, top-down policies, and cultural norms. Our theme-based vignettes as findings illustrate teacher resistance via technologies of the self, involving building boundaries to preserve the sense of belonging and teacher efficacy, while maintaining personal well-being. Findings show struggles around teacher identity presentations in relation to coping strategies, such as emotional capital for teachers to navigate power hierarchies in the academy.
| Scheduling preference | Anytime on Saturday or Sunday |
|---|---|
| Title | Vietnamese Teacher Precarity in the Context of English Language Teaching |