In the relationship between education and production as a perennial issue; work-integrated learning (WIL) is a vehicle intended to bridge theory and practice. This study investigated key factors affecting work-integrated learning (WIL) programs in language teacher education in Việt Nam and Australia. The main research question focused on the unexplored relationship between WIL and language teacher education: What are the key factors affecting work-integrated learning in language teacher education in Việt Nam and Australia? Given what the literature reports is presently known, the following three contributory research questions about WIL in language teacher education presented the scope necessary for making an original contribution to knowledge: 1. What are the expressions of, and responses to, changes in English and Chinese language teacher education WIL programs? 2. What opportunities and challenges arise in conducting English and Chinese language teacher education through WIL? 3. How does the organisation of WIL in English and Chinese language teacher education help students' professional learning? With the concerns about academic dependency on theories produced or disseminated in English, and the fact that evidence for this study was collected in Tiếng Anh (English language), and Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese language), my research also investigated a subsidiary research question: How might Tiếng Việt concepts be used to interpret evidence of WIL in English and Chinese language teacher education? This research study employed an interpretive-critical analysis philosophical stance underpinning its research methodology. This multisite case study used a flexible research design focusing on the dynamics affecting WIL in two language teacher education programs. This study involved fieldwork in Việt Nam to study WIL in a language teacher education program specialising in English, and fieldwork in Australia with a WIL language teacher education program specialising in Chinese. The data set generated for this study consisted of semi-structured interviews, education and curriculum policies, media reports, and artefacts. Data analysis techniques employed in this study included data transcription and translation, data immersion, coding, creating categories, identifying counterevidence, generating themes, and theorising. The analytical framework used in this study employed the following concepts: dominant, residual, and emergent cultures (Williams, 1977), dilemmas of schooling (Berlak & Berlak, 1981), and connections, and disconnections (Munro, 1997). Significantly, study used postmonolingual research methodologies, including the use of analytical concepts from Tiếng Việt and English to make meaning of the evidence. Three key findings arose from the research reported in this thesis. First, the results indicated the dominance of workplace learning by finance-driven partnerships that embrace the interrelated social, economic, and historical features of a residual nature, as well as an emergent strategy in WIL in language teacher education. Second, WIL in language teacher education provided students with real-world experiences of the teaching profession, 21st century skills for enhancing employment possibilities, as well as opportunities for them to contribute to equity in education. Findings also entailed dilemmas of curriculum, society, and policy practice residing in the lack of resources, expert personnel, facilities, and funding, as well as tensions in policy and governance. Third, findings revealed the co-existence of connections and disconnections in WIL that affect students' learning transformation, peer learning, and use of social media as a tool for learning, along with institutional management and student performance. Key theoretical implications from findings of this study include post-monolingual knowledge production and dissemination using languages other than English as theoretical tools for theorising in language teacher education and research in other disciplines. The study has policy and practical implications for designing and/or refining the curriculum for organising WIL in higher education and other education levels across disciplines and/or faculties; engaging with industry; communities, partnerships for WIL with overseas institutions, non-government organisations, and for research collaborations through government-funded research schemes.
| Date of Award | 2019 |
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| Original language | English |
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