Educational systems worldwide have been affected by government restrictions imposed in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, causing the temporary closure of many educational institutions. The new condition has forced teachers to make the transition from onsite to online teaching. The current study used a descriptive method to examine online teachers’ perceptions towards online teaching during the transition to online learning at a center for foreign languages in Vietnam. The results reveal that teachers have a relatively positive perception of online teaching, although many typical problems of online teaching do present themselves and the effectiveness of online teaching does not always compare favorably with traditional classroom teaching. Teachers’ suggestions are significant for improving online teaching quality. Online teaching is highly likely here to stay and will continue to improve. The transition from traditional face-to-face classrooms to online teaching can be successfully achieved and its quality can be ensured if challenges and ways of improving online learning continue to be closely examined.

The online flipped classroom has been a growing trend in education, particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic, and now, in the new normal, online learning has become the dominant alternative to traditional learning. In this model of learning, students can prepare new materials through reading or watching lesson videos at home, and then, in the physical or virtual classroom, they have time for active discussions. Although the flipped classroom model has been popular for several decades, the implementation of the flipped classroom in online-based teaching and learning in the context of teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) has not been widely researched. In this study, an online questionnaire with both closed-ended and open-ended questions was administered to 120 EFL students at a public university in Vietnam, with the aim of understanding EFL students’ perceptions of online flipped learning. The results reveal that students have a relatively positive perception of online flipped learning, although a number of typical challenges can have a negative influence on the effectiveness of this type of instruction. Many suggestions for improving the online flipped classroom were also presented.

Gamification is a concept that is commonly used in sectors such as education, information studies, human–computer interaction, and health. Recently, gamification apps have been widely used in teaching English in order to increase learners’ interests, engagement and joyfulness. In addition, there have been plenty of prior studies about the effectiveness of gamification in English education but there seemed to be little research about the correlation between gamification and teaching speaking skills. As a result of this, the current study investigated teachers' perspectives on the benefits and challenges of using gamification in teaching speaking skills to young learners. The study enlisted the help of 69 teachers. To explore teachers’ perceptions of gamifying apps, a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview were administered. The findings indicated that gamifying applications benefited teaching speaking to young learners in 4 stages: raising awareness, appropriation, autonomy and giving feedback. Still, there were some challenges involving external factors and teacher- related factors that must be considered and overcome when using gamification applications.

Teacher is one of the most important elements in education. The quality of education is largely determined by the teacher’s quality. Few would argue against the view that motivated staff are a central resource for the success and quality of an organization, and thus attention needs to be given to examining teachers’ motivation as a key to guaranteed quality education. At the Center of Foreign Languages, Can Tho University, teachers are always recognized as key factors for the success of the institution. This small-scale study was conducted with 42 teachers of English of the Center for Foreign Languages with the aim to examine common factors affecting teachers’ motivation and their perceptions towards quality education. The results of the survey revealed the most common factors for teachers’ motivation and the findings from focus group discussions indicated the positive relationship of teachers’ level of motivation with quality education.

In recent years, the implementation of outcome-based approach has been much emphasized as an increasing effort to improve educational quality and institutional accountability. Relatively contrary to the traditional education, outcome-based approach has put much emphasis on learners and their learning process. Understanding teachers’ beliefs about learning outcomes and outcome-based approach can help reinforce teaching practices. This small-scaled study investigated a group of 32 teachers of young learners about their perceptions of implementing outcome-based education at the Center for Foreign Languages in Can Tho City in Vietnam. Overall, the teachers indicated positive perceptions towards practices of using learning outcomes and presented typical challenges of implementing learning outcomes for teaching young learners. There were several major recommendations for teachers for effective implementation of outcome-based approach. <p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0894/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>