Challenges Encountered by English Pedagogical Graduates in Professional Performance

The study aimed to analyze the difficulties faced by graduates from English teacher training courses, and identify the causes, then inform some implications of pedagogy to improve the situation. To this end, 68 English pedagogy students at Hung Vuong university, Phu Tho province, who graduated during a five-year period (2016-2021), participated in the study. Quantitative and qualitative research design including data collection tools of questionnaire and interview were utilized to work out the problems. Findings showed that the slow adaptation to various working positions and the limited ability in meeting the teaching requirements were the major challenges that hindered these graduates from their professional performance. Causes of the problems could be attributed to the limitation in the training course at the university and graduates’ lack of required skill sets. Results were discussed and some implications for the improvements of English teacher training and recommendations for future research were presented.