Learning to Teach ESP: Case Studies of Two Vietnamese General English Teachers

Abstract

Given increasing concern about teaching quality, more and more attention has been paid to the issue of teacher professional development. While there is a myriad of research on English language teaching (ELT) teacher professional development, little has been done on the same issue for English for Specific Purposes (ESP) teachers. In Vietnam, most teachers of English in non-Englishmajor universities or vocational colleges have to teach ESP courses while their backgrounds are unrelated to the disciplines they are asked to teach. Based on this fact, this study was designed to investigate how general English teachers learn to teach ESP through the cases of two teachers of English at a medical university. Semistructured interviews, classroom observations, and postobservation interviews were used to explore the challenges of those teachers in dealing with new subject matter and seeking appropriate solutions. Also, implications for ESP teacher professional development in Vietnam are drawn.