Vietnamese EFL Teachers’ Agency in Response to Policy-Based Professional Development Training Programs: An Ecological Multiple-Case Study

Abstract

This exploratory multiple-case study traces how rural English-as-a-Foreign-Language (EFL) teachers exercise agency by engaging in policy-based continuing professional development (CPD) training programs in language education reforms in Vietnam. Drawing on Priestley et al.’s ecological model of teacher agency, the study defines agency as a temporally practiced achievement originating from teachers’ interactions with past experiences, present pedagogical practices, and future-based aspirations. Qualitative data emerge through three rounds of in-depth semi-structured interviews with six participants working across diverse contexts of the country. Inductive thematic analysis reveals that agency is enacted across the iterational, practical-evaluative, and projective dimensions. Participants draw on their prior teaching experiences and pedagogical beliefs to interpret CPD training content, exercise professional judgement in adapting this content to their classroom realities, and project longer-term career trajectories in relation to such policy expectations. The findings identify CPD training as a critical space wherein policy expectations converge with participants’ teaching practices, professional values, and teaching commitments. The study offers fresher empirical insights into teacher agency in Southeast Asia and portrays the value of context-responsive training programs that position participants as the active agents of change within policy reform processes.