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Like many other methodological innovations, Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) has been applied to many English language curriculums across Asia. However, little research has been done to explore what teachers know and believe about these reforms in their specific contexts. This paper derives from an in-depth study of teacher cognition in Vietnamese high schools using multi-methods of data collection. It will present and discuss findings from one of the methods used to elicit teachers’ knowledge and attitudes-‘narrative frames’(Barkhuizen & Wette, 2008). Specifically, teachers were asked to write (in Vietnamese) reflective comments about their attitudes towards TBLT, and their recent experience of applying it in their classroom. After presenting some of the findings, the application and usefulness of this approach to data collection in relatable contexts will be considered.

Two versions of curricular innovation have been identified: the intended reform, which presents idealised prescriptions, and the realised version, which is actually implemented in classrooms (Coleman, 1996; Fullan, 1993; Markee, 1997). There is often a gap between the two because the experience and perceptions of the key decision-makers–the teachers–are usually not taken into account (MacDonald, 1991; McGee, 1997). This paper reports an aspect of an in-depth case study into the beliefs and practices of a group of Vietnamese teachers in regard to the innovative national curriculum in Vietnamese high schools in which Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) are fundamental features. The paper will focus on the …