Teacher Activity Groups to promote multilingual pedagogies in Vietnam

This article reports on a British Council—funded project that sought to develop teachers’ understandings of multilingual pedagogies in linguistically diverse primary schools in northern Vietnam. The project trained English teachers to lead teacher activity groups (TAGs) with colleagues from other subjects, based on the assumption that English teachers, due to their specialist knowledge of how languages are learned and taught, could act as agents of multilingualism in their schools. The study examined how TAGs supported teacher learning, collaboration, and the development of teacher leadership in multilingual pedagogy. Fifteen English teachers and thirty subject teachers participated across fifteen primary schools. Data included interviews, TAG meeting recordings, and reflective journals, analysed thematically. Findings indicate that TAGs fostered collaboration and increased awareness of multilingualism, although leadership development was uneven. The project identified some systemic factors as barriers to linguistic inclusion, such as policy–practice tensions.