Open Education Resources in EFL teaching at School of Languages and Tourism: Opportunities and challenges

Abstract

OERs provide equal opportunities for learners all over the world, such as free access to high-quality educational materials, augmentation of class materials, and enhancement of standard course content. Vietnam, a developing country, could benefit the most from the OERs movement such as free access to education, promoting active learning, and enabling teachers to customize course materials for their students. Nonetheless, the application of Open Educational Resources (OERs) is not widely recognized by the general public in Vietnam tertiary education, particularly at the School of Languages -Tourism (SLT). The article contends that OERs application at SLT is complicated and constrained by a number of contextual challenges. To be more specific, the use of OERs in the design of courses is hampered by three types of challenges, based on a survey of relevant research from around the world: (a) technological and infrastructure issues, (b) pedagogical concerns, and (c) legal constraints. Finally, the article discusses and suggests solutions for incorporating OERs in EFL teaching at SLT.