Student’s name: Ho Nguyen Nhu Y

Supervisor’s name: Nguyen Truong Sa

Course: 2011-2015

Abstract

This paper investigates teachers’ perceptions of Ideal and the Reality English teachers at different schools in Vietnam.  The objects of the study were 16 teachers who were teaching English for the pupils at State Primary schools, Foreign Language Centers in urban and rural in Vietnam. They were interviewed to find out their viewpoints about what qualifications the Primary English teachers in Vietnam today need to have. It is proved that the Ideal teacher should be good at all aspects: level, skills, abilities, character  in teaching English, methods applied to teaching English for children. Besides, analyzing collected data from the interviews also revealed the situation of the teachers today. They have not had all qualifications that needed to have to teach the pupils most effectively. Hence, there is a gap between Ideal and Reality. On the contrary, there are challenges they are facing in practice, which are limiting the teachers’ abilities in teaching English for the pupils. In this study, those issues were clarified. Finally, suggestions were drawn to improve the quality of teaching English at State Primary schools in Vietnam at the present.