Speaking Pedagogy: Insights from Vietnamese EFL Teachers’ Cognitions and Classroom Practice

The past few decades have witnessed an ever-growing expansion of research on teacher cognition - their knowledge and beliefs - and its relation to their teaching practice. However, teacher cognition about speaking skill instruction remains an under-researched area. In the Vietnamese context, while an increasing body of research has advanced our understanding of the role of EFL teachers’ cognitions in the implementation of the task-based language teaching curriculum in the high school context, research into university teachers’ knowledge, beliefs and practice remains to be minimal. Given the mounting socio-economic pressure for universities to produce English-competent graduates, an in-depth and systematic understanding of Vietnamese university teachers’ existing cognitions and practice in teaching speaking is long overdue.